Thread: Fireworks That Injured 11 in Va. Are Investigated

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00924.html

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 6, 2007; Page B01

Identical boxes of commercial fireworks made in China malfunctioned at six Fourth of July displays in Northern Virginia, including an accident in Vienna in which a misdirected shell injured 11 people, two seriously, officials said yesterday.

All six shows were operated by the same company, Schaefer Pyrotechnics of Ronks, Pa., and involved the same "cake boxes" of 25 three-inch mortar tubes. But fire officials in Fairfax County and Fairfax City, where a high-powered shell narrowly missed two Schaefer employees, said Schaefer did not appear to be at fault. The company declined to comment.


Investigators were trying to determine the exact origin of the fireworks yesterday. In Vienna and Fairfax City, the same thing happened: One shell exploded within a cake box, which tipped over and fired some rounds a few feet off the ground. A cake box is a container of five rows of five three-inch mortar tubes ignited by a single fuse.

Fire officials said similar incidents occurred at four other shows in Fairfax without injury -- Langley High School in McLean, International Country Club in Chantilly, Westwood Golf and Country Club in Vienna and Springfield Golf and Country Club. Organizers said they were unaware of any problems, but Fairfax fire spokesman Dan Schmidt said fire marshals filed reports on the malfunctioning boxes.

In Vienna, several thousand people were gathered near Vienna Elementary School on Center Street at 9:45 p.m., when the finale was just beginning, according to Fairfax Battalion Chief Keith Johnson. Schaefer's setup had been inspected twice, but the individual tubes holding the fireworks cannot be closely checked, Johnson said.

In the cake box, one shell "detonated before it came out of the mortar," Deputy Chief Dave McKernan said. He said the box "tipped over and displaced all the other mortars."

Assistant Fire Marshal Ronald Sheffield said there were at least 600 pounds of sandbags around the mortars, but the shells "blew out what was there."

Rounds flew in different directions. "There were several that were going haywire," said Brian Huber of Vienna. "Sparks were showering the ballfield, and on Waters Field there were sparks at ground level."

One round landed in a group of mostly youngsters, who ranged in age from an infant to an 11-year-old, Schmidt said. An adult was flown to the burn unit at Washington Hospital Center, and one of the children was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital. Five others were hospitalized overnight, and four others treated at the scene. Eight were children.

Federal privacy laws prevented fire officials from releasing the victims' names, conditions, ages or home towns, Schmidt said.

Huber said the scene was mildly chaotic but not panicked, because most people didn't know what had happened.

Vienna has used Schaefer for 10 years or more without incident, town spokeswoman Marie Kisner said. Fairfax City has also used Schaefer for years, city officials said.

In Fairfax City, about 20 minutes into the show at Fairfax High School, "one of the shells exploded inside the box, causing the rest of the tubes to lay down horizontally," said Chief Fire Marshal Andrew Wilson.

Only two shells were left in the 25-tube box, Wilson said, but one of them rocketed between two of the show's operators and slammed into a chain link fence.


Wilson said the Schaefer employees were uncomfortable using any more of the Chinese fireworks. Wilson and city officials decided to call off the rest of the show.

"I have been told by the fireworks company they had multiple malfunctions of that device," Wilson said. He said Schaefer told him it had bought a load of 250 of the cake boxes, packed with 25 three-inch mortars, and that 200 were shipped to shows around the country.

Nearly 99 percent of all fireworks sold legally in the United States are imported from China, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade group. Fireworks manufacturers in China are regulated and inspected more closely than makers of other items, such as toothpaste and dog food, which have recently been found to contain poisons, the group said.

Three employees of another fireworks company, Pyro Shows Inc. of LaFollette, Tenn., were hurt on the Mall in the District after the show ended. U.S. Park Police said unused fireworks exploded on the ground just south of Constitution Gardens about 10 p.m.

One man was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he was treated for serious burns. A second man was taken to a hospital by ambulance, and a third man was treated at the scene, police said. None of the injuries was life-threatening.

Only the Vienna and DC fireworks accidents made it on our local news.I never knew about the others, (no I don't read the Post,just once a week local papers).To tell the truth they didn't even seem like that big of a deal on the news,they never broke into programming or anything,kind of strange, imo.