A fun-loving celebration of Utah's statehood turned into a disaster last Thursday as Tyler DeFrance, son of notorious blogger Grandma Folly, set the yard ablaze in a sorry attempt to gain attention from his disinterested family.Tyler, who is usually not allowed near anything flammable, began lighting a box of fireworks, which he apparently stole from his neighbors the Deumars, at around 9:15 P.M. Because of the darkness, the crowd assumed that Cheech Leo DeFrance, Tyler's father and caretaker, was the one handling the matches. It wasn't until ten minutes later that the mustached father came out of the house in a drunken stupor, apparently incoherent and unaware of Tyler's unfortunate attempt to dazzle the crowd of onlookers. By 9:30, nearly half the lawn was ablaze.
Cheech, thinking it was just "part of the show," apparently rolled around in the fire for nearly ten minutes, severely burning his face, arms, and hands. His mustache was also, tragically, burned to a crisp.
While most of the crowd escaped the flames unscathed, not everyone was as lucky. Uno, in an attempt to rescue her irresponsible, yet charming brother found herself trapped in the family's sandbox.
"In my thirty-plus years as the DeFrance's neighbor, I've seen a lot of crazy things," said Demaurs. "I've witnessed fights, both verbal and physical. I've seen Cheech throw glass jars at their dogs and children... but this probably takes the cake!"
Demaurs said the he plans on suing the DeFrances for the cost of the fireworks, as well as hospital bills for mental and physical trauma.
"Unfortunately, this was actually one of the better 24th parties we've had in years," said Aunt Kathy. "Every year ends in severe tragedy, and this year was no exception."
