This is the horrific moment a firework exploded in a four-year-old girl’s face during a family display.
Maisie Roe, from Berrydown, Devon, suffered serious facial burns after the rocket flew sideways rather than upwards and lodged in her scarf.
Her mother, Stephanie, released the horrifying footage in a bid to educate people about the dangers of fireworks in the run up to November 5.
Maisie Roe,(pictured left before the explosion with her sister Scarlett) suffered serious facial burns after the firework flew sideways rather than upwards and lodged in her scarf during a family display in Berrydown, Devon
Maisie is making a good recovery from her wounds but will remain scarred for life.
Her mother told Devon Live: ‘As a family we have thought long and hard about releasing this footage.
‘I stood and filmed what happened that night thinking it would just make another part of a happy Facebook post with the kids enjoying some newsagent fireworks in the back garden.
‘I still can’t watch this video without feeling sick because I know how those small, silent, back garden fireworks changed our lives forever.’
Earlier Mrs Roe, a police officer, released an image of her daughter’s face after it was badly burned.
She said on Facebook: ‘I questioned whether or not to post this image on here and then a dear friend said “they should have that picture on boxes of fireworks” and that resonated.
Her mother, Stephanie, released the horrifying footage of the firework exploding(pictured) in a bid to educate people about the dangers of fireworks in the run up to November 5
The firework lodged in Maisie’s scarf and exploded and she screamed in pain(pictured)
‘It’s not pretty, it’s not nice to look at, it’s one of those images that you see all too often and thank your lucky stars that isn’t your child.
‘Well, this was our four-year-old child yesterday. This is what those bandages she’s so desperate to get off are protecting.
‘This is why she’s missing the skin from her right thigh. This is why she cries when you lift her up. This is the reason she is currently medicated day and night.
‘This is why she can’t go to school or play in the garden. This is what one little flare from a silent garden firework can do when it goes wrong.
‘Approximately 25 pence worth of firework. She’s lucky. There’s a long road to recovery ahead and she’ll be scarred for life.
‘But she can still see, she can still hear, she can still scream. If this is what doing everything by the book looks like would you still risk it?’
Maisie recovering in hospital after the incident, which will leave her with scars for the rest of her life
Mrs Roe urged others to sign a petition calling for stricter laws on the sale of fireworks to prevent others going through the same ordeal.
The petition, initiated in October, urges the Government to ‘ban the sale of fireworks to the public and only approve organised displays’ and has 146,000 signatures.
Maisie was standing with her brother and sister about 30ft from where the rockets were being lit by her soldier father Jake.
But one shot off course and became lodged in her scarf before exploding – leaving her with full-thickness burns to her head and shoulder.
Maisie also suffered injuries to her face and hand, and has been receiving treatment for her burns – including ‘full-thickness’ ones that required skin grafts.
Mrs Roe said following the accident: ‘We did everything right – my husband is an Army sergeant and is as safety conscious as they come.’
Maisie was 30ft away – twice the recommended ‘buffer zone’ – with her brother Dylan, nine, and sister Scarlett, six, when the Bonfire Night accident happened.
Four rockets went up into the air above the family’s home before the fifth went off course and into her scarf.
The Roe family bought the £14.99 set of ‘quiet’ fireworks from a local newsagent and Mr Roe set them up in a field next to their home before lighting them.
Maisie was taken to the specialist burns unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital and Mrs Roe had thanked the NHS for their ‘outstanding standard of care and expertise’.