(NewsNation) — A suburban family is hoping to clear the air after their Fourth of July firework video accidentally sparked viral reaction.
The video, which the family says was posted to Reddit without their consent, shows around a dozen people sitting on the front lawn. One of them lights a firework that appears to be defective. Sparks fly and light off a stash of fireworks sitting near a family vehicle.
The family in the video, who spoke with NewsNation exclusively but asked to remain anonymous, say there were no injuries or property damage.
“It’s kind of shocking, how undamaged it all was,” the homeowner said. “Had the break-boards not have been there, the damage would have been much worse. There probably would have been injuries that sustained. It was a lot of fireworks back there.”
The family told NewsNation that lighting fireworks is something they do annually and that they always take appropriate safety measures.
“We did have a fire hose drug through the front yard, which I guess no one actually focused on in the video,” the homeowner said. “In the second portion of the video, I can be seen running out the front door and grabbing the hose getting it turned on. And then my husband grabs the hose from me and moves towards the fireworks to wet down the boxes that already ignited.”
SimpliSafe, a home security company, even shared concern for the video tweeting, “We’ve received many comments and inquiries today about whether this was a planned event. We exist to protect our customers and don’t make light of events that put their safety at risk. If you are or know someone in this video please let us know if everyone involved is safe.”
There have been assumptions online that children set off the fireworks, but the family made it clear to NewsNation that only adults were involved. They also wanted to clarify that no alcohol was involved.
“While it is fun to let kids do those things, it’s just not something that we would let them do on their own at all,” the homeowner said.
Although the family took appropriate safety measures during the explosions, they say the lesson learned was that they became complacent.
“When we first started doing this, we had checklists and things that we would do prior to setting out fireworks, and what we would do if something happened. I think over the years, we just became complacent,” the homeowner said.