Three boys were hospitalized Wednesday night after fireworks exploded in separate incidents in Gearhart and Seaside.

Young people were playing on Gearhart Beach near Pacific Way with illegal mortar fireworks at about 10 p.m., Gearhart Fire Chief Bill Eddy said. One of the fireworks went off in one of the boy’s hands, Eddy said, causing “some pretty massive damage to that hand, plus the hand he pulled the firework on.”

The boy was taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria.

A second boy near the explosion told responders he was unable to hear as a result of the blast, Eddy said. He was also taken to the hospital.

The names of the injured boys were not available.

Eddy said this was the first Gearhart fire response on the Fourth of July in “seven or eight years.” The last time, a girl near Del Rey Beach burned her feet after stepping into a buried fire pit.

The message, Eddy said, is “don’t play with illegal fireworks.”

Gearhart Police Chief Jeff Bowman said no charges have been issued as a result of Wednesday’s incident, but the investigation remains open.

In Seaside, meanwhile, a “boy burned his hand pretty good” using fireworks on the Prom, Seaside Fire Department Division Chief Chris Dugan said.

The boy, whose name has not been released, was taken to Providence Seaside Hospital with minor injuries, Dugan said.

In another incident, Seaside police arrested a man after he allegedly dropped mortar-style fireworks into the fire pits of other people on the beach.

Ruslan Ivanchenko, 18, of Portland, was charged with reckless endangering, disorderly conduct and possession of alcohol by a minor.