Boy who lost four fingers in firework accident warns: 'Let your parents do it'

Published 29 October 2026, 12:23

• Riley Luke, now 12, from Paisley, tells his story in a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Bonfire Night safety campaign.
• Father Scott Luke found him with his thumb 'blasted back to his wrist' and fingers missing.
• Surgeons operated for 14 hours, then stitched his hand to his groin during a two-week coma.

A boy who lost four fingers when a firework exploded in his hand at the age of eight is urging other children to stay away from fireworks, warning: "Let your parents do it instead of you so you don't lose any of your fingers, hurt yourself, end up in hospital or lose an eye."

Riley Luke, now 12, from Paisley, is sharing his story as part of a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Bonfire Night safety campaign, four years after the incident left him with life-changing injuries.

The accident happened on 7 November 2022, when Riley was playing with friends in his local area and the group found a firework.

His father Scott Luke described what unfolded: "They had been trying to light the firework and had passed it around each other trying to light it. Eventually, Riley was holding it and when it lit, it stuck to his hand. He was trying to get it off his hand and then within seconds it exploded, which resulted in losing four of his fingers and a good part of his palm."

When Scott called Riley to come home for dinner, an unfamiliar voice picked up and informed him that something had happened.

He found his son two streets away.

"His thumb was blasted back to his wrist, part of his hand wasn't there and he had fingers missing," Scott said, according to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service report.

Riley was taken by ambulance to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, where surgeons operated for 14 hours.

After lying unconscious in the ICU for roughly two weeks, his hand surgically attached to his groin area to encourage circulation back into the injured tissue, he was not well enough to leave hospital until just a few days before Christmas 2022.

The weeks that followed were gruelling.

"I had to learn to write with my left hand. I needed help getting ready, I needed help cutting my food. I had to get my teacher to help me write," Riley said.

He described building up strength during his hospital stay by colouring in with pencils, and said: "I thought about writing with my left hand one day and then I just got like better and better at it."

Four years on, tying shoelaces and fastening buttons remain difficult.

Scott said Riley has not let the injury hold him back: "He's head strong, he doesn't hold back. He still goes and plays on the scooters, bikes, just anything that a wee boy does — he does too. It's just a wee bit challenging."

On Bonfire Night 2025, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service received 751 calls between 3.30pm and midnight and attended more than 250 bonfires across Scotland.

Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Ian McMeekin, Head of Prevention at the service, said Riley's experience was "a stark reminder of the devastating injuries fireworks can cause."

"Fireworks are explosives and are incredibly dangerous if they've not been handled safely by an adult," he added.