This may be use of a regional term to describe a firecracker: we used to buy "quartersticks" for July 4th. They were cardboard tubes, usually red, with epoxied ends, a green fuse sticking out through one end, filled with...whatever they fill M-80s with. These were about the diameter of a 50 cent piece and maybe four inches long.
They look nothing like a candle.
I've seen the damage a handheld M-80 does--I would expect the damage described in the article, from one of these "quartersticks."