Fireworks severely injures Pullman man

PULLMAN — A Pullman man nearly lost his life as a firework launch tube braced on his thigh exploded on the Fourth of July.

The tube was for an aerial display.

Neighbors of the man in his 20s came to his rescue. The people in the 300 block of NW Thomas Street called 9-1-1 while applying a belt tourniquet and direct pressure to his groin area. The explosion nicked his artery, according to Pullman police Assistant Chief Ryan Scharnhorst.

“Pullman Police officer Brock Westerman applying a tourniquet … may have saved the man from possibly bleeding out and dying,” said Scharnhorst.

The patient was s...