Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks while celebrating the holiday on Saturday in the backyard of a friend’s home.
The 22-year-old placed a mortar tube on his head and set it off. He died instantly, the Associated Press reported.
His death marks the first known fireworks-related fatality in Maine since the state legalized the explosives on Jan. 1, 2012.
State fire marshals are investigating other firework-related injuries mostly involving burns and eye injuries.
