Thousands of people are hurt every year in fireworks-related accidents, according to the National Fire Protection Association, and as one Brooklyn family knows all too well — they don't all happen on the Fourth of July.

Jala Smith was only 1 month old when her family brought her to a block party in Brooklyn in September 2016. In a festive mood, someone at the party decided to light illegal fireworks.

"He lit the rocket. It went into the air but it didn't get all the way into the air," recalled Jala's mother, Quanisha Smith. "The wind must have shifted it because it went straight into the wall." 

The firework bounced off the wall, then screamed straight into Jala's stroller as she sat strapped inside. 

"It hit the stroller and I saw a spark," said Quanisha Smith. "The stroller is on fire with the baby in it, and it was just panic." 

Jala's legs were burnt: "They were black to a crisp," her mother said. 

Jala was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital Northwell Health, where Dr. Michael L. Cooper and his team cared for the baby at the burn unit. They also care for an average of 15 fireworks injury victims each year around the Fourth of July. 

"The dangers are there," said Cooper. "These are explosives, they can cause scars." 

"Sometimes these patients don't get back to work. Sometimes those patients will avoid going out because they're too self-conscious or emotional or traumatized by the disfigurement." 

Two years after being severely burned by the illegal firework, Jala is running around like any other toddler, smiling and laughing and telling her parents, "I love you." But not everything is normal. Jala still has pain, bears a scar, and her six brothers and sisters are also traumatized. 

"They're scared of fireworks now, so they don't even want to be around it," said Quanisha Smith. "They don't even want to hear it. When they hear it, they run and hide." 

Which is why Quanisha Smith wants to spread the message about fireworks on this July 4th holiday: "Please don't light it. Don't play with fireworks at all. Any bottle rockets, any fireworks. It is so dangerous to everyone." 

A blast of the 1970s filled Walnut Hill Park in New Britain as the band Vinyl Revolution jammed on stage on Monday.

The crowd soaked up the tunes, as most found a spot out of the sun with the temperature in the high 80s.

“Really nice. Nice little breeze. The sun is going down. We’re in shade” said Jeanette Voisine of Plainville.

“It’s nice that New Britain has Parks & Rec and something nice for us to come to,” said Deb Daversa of Berlin.

Earlier the beating sun sent people streaming to a splash pad on Willow Street. Monday afternoon temperatures hit the 90s. But it felt a lot worse.

“Oh my god, it’s horrible. Humid, hot and disgusting,” said Rich Lazicki of New Britain.

“I felt like I was going to pass out,” said Lilly Fargas of New Britain.

Kids and parents were finding relief with cool jets of water.

“It’s too hot to be in the house. It’s too nice to be stuck in the house. The kids love the water. I figure, take them to the splash pad,” said Crystal Torres of New Britain.

Back at the concert, the sounds of the 70s relaxed people and some people including Laurel Simpson packed refreshments to deal with the conditions.

“Pepperoni and muenster. We got a big bowl of fruit. And all the rest is water,” said Simpson.

Monday’s concert kicked off a summer series, with bands playing most Mondays and Wednesdays.

The music starts at 7 p.m. at Walnut Hill Park.

With the raising of their right hand, about 290 swabs were officially sworn in as the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Class of 2022 during the first day of Swab Summer on Monday.

“Serve my nation and be able to go out into the world and do amazing things,” said swab Naya Tamariz of San Diego, California, about the experience.

After the ceremony and a class picture, there was the dash to find family. Swabs had just 15 minutes to hug them and say goodbye. Some were all smiles. Other choked back tears.

“My sister’s here. She inspired me to come here,” Swab Kelly Richters, of Chesterfield, Va., said after hugging her sister, a member of the Coast Guard. She was speechless.

It’s been a physically and mentally challenging day for the swabs. Drill practice had them out in the blazing sun and reaching for water. Cadres were adamant about swabs drinking enough to stay hydrated.

Second Class Cadet Emily Wright called out the commands as the cadre, but she remembers what it was like being at drill practice in the heat.

“It was awful. I just remember sweat dripping down your face. You’re not allowed to touch your face. It just tickling,” Wright said. “Everyone goes through it together so it definitely unifies the class.”

West Hartford Swab Carla Barns is proud to be a part of an organization that she said has a humanitarian mission.

“Probably the proudest moment of my life. This is definitely the most challenging thing I’ve ever done so wish me luck,” Barns smiled.

Parents and families are proud, too.

“We were part of Hurricane Harvey. Friendswood (Texas) got hit hard by Harvey. A big part of it was watching the Coast Guard helicopters rescuing all of the people out of the floods and that kind of cemented that for him. He’s been interested forever, but that really cemented it,” said Linda De La Fuente about her son Brendon.

All of De La Fuente’s brothers wore Hawaiian shirts with Coast Guard t-shirts underneath in support of their brother, a “uniform” of their own.

Male swabs got their heads shaved and all got their new uniforms.

It’s a moment East Lyme local and new swab Ryan Taylor waited for since he was a kid.

“Growing up locally and seeing the academy and all the cadets, it was really something – I’ve looked up to them and I always enjoyed seeing them do all the cool stuff they get to do,” Taylor said.

The newest class represents 48 different states and territories said CGA Director of Communications David Santos, adding it’s the most diverse class they’ve had. It’s 40 percent females and 36 percent from underrepresented minority groups.

An Old Saybrook native took a tragedy that derailed his tennis career and turned it into a new lease on life.

Jason Hughes grew up playing tennis in Old Saybrook. But a tragic accident during his teen years was what really taught him that you can lose one set and still win the match.

“I started playing tournaments at a young age and by the time I was 10, 11, 12, I was ranked number two in New England,” he told NBC Connecticut.

On July 3, 1988, at 16 years old, his path took a turn. His best friend fell asleep at the wheel while Hughes was a passenger while the pair was on the way home from a concert in Maine.

“The car rolled three times and we were both ejected from the car,” Hughes said. His friend was killed.

“I sustained traumatic brain injury and I was paralyzed and in a coma,” Hughes said.

When Hughes did wake up, his path forward looked a whole lot different.

“I was completely immobile and I couldn’t speak,” he recalled.

But he said he was never scared, because he knew he had a purpose.

“When I started to exercise, or be able to exercise again, I got a lot of answers from that because I no longer took this physical body for granted,” he said.

Hughes regained his movement and went on the play tennis at Northeastern University. But he also discovered a new passion. Today, he lives in California working as a tennis pro and a life coach.

“If you do something on the tennis court and it doesn’t feel good, you need to become conscious of what the adjustment is to make it feel better. And in life, a lot of times we know what will help us feel better in life, it’s just a matter of if we want to make those choices.”

For more on Hughes' story, click here.

Police are investigating a domestic incident on Trinity Street in New Britain and they are looking for the suspect. 

Police said a woman who lives on the first floor of the building contacted police Monday and reported someone had kicked in the back door. Then on Monday night, she reported being the victim of domestic violence. 

Police said there is an outstanding warrant for the suspect and authorities called in the SWAT team as a precaution. 

Police evacuated people, but have not found the suspect.

A home surveillance camera captured a wild shootout early Sunday morning between two groups of men in cars that were speeding and firing through a Dallas neighborhood.

Sleeping residents of Parkland Avenue were awakened around 5:20 a.m. by what they initially thought were fireworks.

But when Sharmin Ashtaputre and her husband went to check their surveillance video feed to see what was causing all the racket, they quickly realized it was something much more serious.

In a phone conversation with NBC 5, she said they watched as two cars came whipping around the corner, guns blazing, firing round after round.

They immediately called 911.

While they waited for officers to respond, one of the cars came to a stop in front of her neighbor's house, and two men got out.

They disappear from view in the surveillance video for several minutes, but re-emerge when an SUV stops to pick them up.

The other vehicle continued driving.

Ashtaputre said it wasn't until officers pointed out the bullet holes in her second floor windows that she and her husband realized their house had been hit.

Even scarier -- on the other side of those windows, their toddler was sleeping. Much to their relief, the bullets missed her and she was not hurt.

A neighbor who lives three houses down found bullet holes in two of his vehicles.

Dallas Police said detectives were following leads, but that no arrests have been made.

They're urging anyone with information to contact them.

About 6 in 10 Americans believe the Republican-led Senate should vote on President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court before the midterm elections in November, according to a new NBC NewsSurveyMonkey poll.

Trump will announce his choice to fill Justince Anthony Kennedy's seat on Monday, but some Democrats have argued that the vote should be held only after the elections.

Only one-third of those surveyed in the poll said the Senate should wait until after the elections to vote on confirming the nominee.

Sixty-one percent of Americans want a justice who would uphold Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion, the poll found, and a majority of independents wanted Trump to nominate a moderate.

Authorities in England arrested a woman on suspicion of killing eight babies and trying to kill six more at a hospital near Liverpool, NBC News reported.

Police only identified the suspect as a "health care professional" in a statement released Tuesday.

The woman's arrest comes amid a yearlong probe into the deaths of 17 babies and 15 "non-fatal collapses" at the neonatal unit of The Countess of Chester Hospital between March 2015 and July 2016.

"This is an extremely difficult time for all the families and it is important to remember that, at the heart of this, there are a number of bereaved families seeking answers as to what happened to their children,” Detective Inspector Paul Hughes said in the statement.

President Donald Trump has ordered that all flags be lowered to half-staff in honor of the victims killed in the Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis, Maryland.

The order comes one day after Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said the White House initially denied his request that flags be lowered nationwide in the wake of the shooting. 

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed to NBC News that flags will be lowered Tuesday. She said the White House made the decision after Trump heard of Buckley's request.

Trump "asked us to reach out and verify that the mayor had made the request. And when we did, the president asked that the flags be lowered immediately," Sanders said. 

Trump previously ordered flags lowered for mass shootings in Las Vegas, Parkland, Florida, Sutherlands Springs and Sante Fe, Texas, USA Today reported. 

Authorities say the suspect in the shooting, Jarrod Ramos, had a long-held grudge against the newspaper, dating back to a story the paper published about Ramos' criminal harassment of the woman, known as Lori. On Thursday, he opened fire at the paper in Annapolis, Maryland, police say, killing four journalists and a staffer at the newspaper. 

The employees killed were Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters, police said.

Ramos is being held without bond, charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the deadly rampage at the Capital Gazette.

Last week, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan ordered that all flags in the state be lowered to half-staff in honor of the victims.

A 19-year-old Hamden man was shot in the stomach in New Haven early Tuesday morning and he is undergoing surgery.

Police responded to Munson Street at 3:50 a.m. and found the teen lying in a driveway. He was on the phone with a police dispatcher.

The victim was rushed to the hospital.

He is in stable condition.

Police are investigating.

An international, high-tech company will establish its global headquarters in central Connecticut, according to the governor’s office.

Gov. Dannel Malloy will hold a news conference Tuesday morning to announce the details. The company is expected to create hundreds of good-paying jobs.

Malloy will hold a news conference at that State Capitol in the Old Judiciary Room at 10:30 a.m.

No additional information was immediately available.

Warning: The video above may be disturbing to some viewers.

Transit police released surveillance footage from the moment a woman's leg became caught between an Orange Line train and an MBTA platform in Boston, badly injuring her.

The incident happened around 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Massachusetts Avenue Station. The video released by the MBTA shows a group of passengers rushing to her aid and pushing the train away from the platform until she was free.

The 45-year-old woman was taken to Boston Medical Center and is recovering. A police report said the severe laceration on the woman's leg left her bone exposed.

Still, The Boston Globe reports, the victim begged people not to call an ambulance.

"Do you know how much an ambulance costs?" she wept, according to the newspaper.

After Globe reporter Maria Cramer tweeted about the incident, the New York Times editorial board penned a story entitled "This Tweet Captures the State of Health Care in America Today."

MBTA officials told the Globe that the gap between the train and the platform was about five inches wide.

Former wrestlers at Ohio State University have accused their former coach, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of failing to stop the team's doctor from molesting them and other students, NBC News reported.

In April the university announced it was investigating accusations that Dr. Richard Strauss abused team members from the mid-1970s to late 1990s. Strauss killed himself in 2005.

Jordan was assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State from 1986 to 1994. He is now a powerful ally of President Donald Trump in Congress who is mentioned as a possible future speaker of the House.

Three former wrestlers told NBC News that it was common knowledge that Strauss showered regularly with the students and inappropriately touched them during appointments, and said it would have been impossible for Jordan to be unaware; one wrestler said he told Jordan directly about the abuse.

The congressman’s spokesman has denied that he heard of any abuse at the time. “Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State,” his spokesman, Ian Fury, said in an email to NBC News. 

Another member of President Donald Trump's administration was confronted while dining at a Washington, D.C., restaurant.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was eating lunch at Teaism in Penn Quarter Monday when a woman carrying her young son confronted the scandal-plagued chief and urged him to resign.

Kristin Mink, a schoolteacher according to her Facebook profile, posted a video of the interaction on her Facebook page. 

Mink wrote on the social media site that Pruitt was having lunch three tables away from her and felt she "had to say something."

"This man is directly and significantly harming my child’s — and every child’s — health and future with decisions to roll back environmental regulations for the benefit of big corporations, while he uses taxpayer money to fund a lavish lifestyle," Mink wrote. "He’s corrupt, he’s a liar, he’s a climate change denier, and as a public servant, he should not be able to go out in public without hearing from the citizens he’s hurting."

In the video, Mink introduces herself to Pruitt, who was sitting at the table with a guest, and urged him to resign "because of what you're doing to the environment and our country."

"This is my son. He loves animals, he loves clean air, he loves clean water," Mink tells Pruitt in the video.

The mother criticized Pruitt for cutting fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, leasing a $50-a-night room — well below market rate — in a condo owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist, "while approving our dirty sands pipeline," as the EPA head and his guest sat stunned at the table.

"We deserve to have somebody at the EPA who actually does protect our environment, someone who believes in climate change and takes it seriously for the benefit of all us, including our children," Mink says. "I would urge you to resign before your scandals push you out."

The video cuts off at the end of Minks comments. Mink says Pruitt did not respond and got up and left the restaurant.

But, EPA spokesman Lincoln Ferguson told NBC News in an emailed response that Pruitt thanked Mink for her comments before leaving the restaurant.

"Administrator Pruitt always welcomes input from Americans, whether they agree or disagree with the decisions being made at EPA. This is evident by him listening to her comments and going on to thank her, which is not shown in the video," Ferguson wrote. "His leaving had nothing to do with the confrontation, he had simply finished his meal and needed to get back to EPA for a briefing."

Last month, the EPA's chief ethics official said he was pushing for a series of independent investigations into Pruitt's actions.

In a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, EPA ethics official Kevin Minoli wrote that "potential issues" regarding Pruitt have surfaced through sources within the EPA and media reports since April. 

News media have reported Pruitt's rental of a condo from a lobbyist's spouse, his use of staff to handle personal matters and other practices. Pruitt faces more than a dozen federal inquiries into his spending and management practices as EPA administrator, according to the Times.

Pruitt is not the first member of the Trump administration to be publicly confronted while dining out.  

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted last month that she was at Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, when she was asked to leave by its owner because she worked for Trump's administration. 

The restaurant's co-owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, told The Washington Post that her reasons for booting Sanders included the concerns of employees who were gay and knew Sanders had defended Trump's desire to bar transgender people from serving in the military.

Earlier that week, Trump's homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, cut short a working dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington after protesters shouted, "Shame!'' until she left. 

Several car dealerships in Watertown were evacuated Tuesday morning after a gas leak on Route 63. 

Police said construction is underway near car dealerships on Straits Turnpike, which is also Route 63, and construction crews called in a gas leak. 

The dealerships were evacuated for around half an hour as a precaution and Eversource responded and deemed the area was safe, police said. 

The road is open.

A Guatemalan mother separated from her three young children at the border in May was finally reunited with her kids in New York City Tuesday morning -- with the reunion so emotional even the translator was brought to tears.

And now there are now hopes the family may be reunited and allowed to stay long-term.

Yeni Gonzalez was granted a visit to her children, who are being cared for at an East Harlem shelter, after they were taken from her when she illegally crossed the border into the U.S more than a month ago.

News 4 has been following Gonzalez's journey and was there Tuesday at 9 a.m. as she made the long-awaited visit to her children, aged 6, 9 and 11. In tears, she told NBC 4 the kids were in good physical condition and wanted to go home with their mom. 

Gonzalez also received some good news -- she would be allowed to see her children for some time each day, when previously she was only granted a one-off visit. It was also announced that the family may be allowed to stay long term with sponsors in North Carolina, however those sponsors will need to be assessed by federal immigration agents first. 

Gonzalez said she did not want to leave New York without her children, but it could take at least two months before they could move to North Carolina.

Gonzalez wept while speaking of her family's pain on Tuesday, with her translator also brought to tears.

"We've shared a lot of sorrow together, we've suffered a lot," she said.

Gonzalez said she came to the U.S. searching for a better future for her children, to escape the poverty of her country. Last Thursday, an immigration attorney traveled to Eloy, Arizona, to get her out on bond, which was paid for by a group of New York City moms who started a GoFundMe page — complete strangers to Gonzalez. 

"We have three children, and I just understand that if there's something we can do with our privilege and within our networks, why wouldn't we do that?" said fundraiser organizer Julie Collazo.

Police are investigating a double shooting in New Haven Tuesday morning. 

Police said there was a drive-by shooting near the intersection of Carmel and Percival streets at 11:50 a.m. and two male victims were injured. 

Their injuries are not life-threatening. 

Investigators are looking for a white BMW that fled the scene.

A crash in North Branford Monday night was fatal, according to police.

The crash happened on Notch Hill Road and the road was closed between Branford and New Britain.

Interstate 84 in Hartford was closed Tuesday morning after a vehicle burst into flames in the tunnel near exit 52.

State troopers and Hartford firefighters responded around 10 a.m. and the driver was out of the vehicle and was not hurt.

The fire was on the eastbound side of the highway, but both sides were closed. 

Department of Transportation inspectors responded to inspect the tunnel. 

Storms are expected to roll through Connecticut Tuesday afternoon and evening.

The NBC Connecticut meteorologists say the storms will be isolated and are not expected to cause severe damage, but where they do pop up they will likely dump a lot of rain. Localized flooding is possible.

The storms will pop up starting in the afternoon and through the evening.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Fairfield County, but expired at 3:15 p.m.

Check conditions in your area with the interactive radar.