Omaha
Surgeons removed his appendix and part of his colon
Bond Set For Man Accused Of Storing Explosives

2005 -- The man accused of storing hundreds of pounds of fireworks on his property had bond set Wednesday at $25,000. Jeffrey Belmont, 40, was taken into custody Tuesday and investigators found a stash of explosives around his home. Investigators confiscated more than 200 cases of fireworks during a search.

Belmont is charged with unlawful possession of an explosive device. The fireworks were found after Joshua Berger, 13, was injured in Belmont's pool Monday night.

Berger was swimming at about 7:30 p.m. in Belmont's pool. Berger's father said members of the two families' church -- the Lighthouse on the Hill -- were gathering at the Belmont home for a Fourth of July celebration. Some fireworks exploded near the pool and injured Berger, burning through the life jacket he was wearing.

Berger had surgery at Creighton University Medical Center. He is in serious condition.

At the bond setting Wednesday morning, prosecutors wanted a judge to set bail at $100,000, but Belmont's attorney argued that his client has been accused of crimes before and never failed to show up for court. Belmont's record includes a DUI and resisting arrest charges.

After court, Howard Berger, father of Joshua, told KETV NewsWatch 7 that he is not upset with his friend Belmont. Howard Berger said he's as worried about Belmont's well-being as he is his own son's health. Howard Berger said he knows Belmont is not responsible for his son's injuries, because he knows Belmont was standing at the grill when his son was hurt by the exploding fireworks.

So far, investigators said, there is no evidence that Belmont lit the explosives that caused Berger's injuries.

Howard Berger said Belmont is going to try to get his home insurance or his business insurance to pay for Joshua Berger's hospital stay.

Belmont and his family didn't want to talk.

A fund to help cover medical costs has been established at Security National Bank. If you'd like to donate, ask for the Joshua Berger Benefit account.

Father, Paramedics Recount Explosion

Josh Berger underwent surgery at Creighton University Medical Center Monday night. Surgeons removed his appendix and part of his colon. Berger faces more surgery and skin grafts to repair internal damages.

"When I picked him up, that's where I saw this huge hole by his right hip area. No skin," Berger said.

The first rescuers on the scene described Berger's injuries as some of the worst they've ever seen.

"We went around the corner and saw his face -- saw Josh's face," said Ralston fire paramedic Carrie Wagner. "Some people say there's a look of death. I could tell things weren't good. It was probably the most gruesome thing I had ever seen." Rescue crews started treatment and got Josh Berger to the hospital.

Tuesday, Howard Berger said his son was showing improvement.

"He's awake, coherent, responds to us. He's worlds better than he was last night," Howard Berger said.

Rescuers said the 13-year-old was very strong Monday night, too. He stayed awake, talked to the rescuers and held up unbelievably well, despite his injuries, paramedics said.

Belmont Was Licensed For Fireworks Displays

Belmont was licensed to shoot off commercial fireworks, but not to store them.

Investigators in Lincoln are in possession of Belmont's explosives cache. They are checking into whether Belmont was making explosives, which is illegal. A representatives in the Nebraska State Fire Marshal's Office said the explosives were taken to underground bunkers.

Ray Nance, of the fire marshal's office, said Belmont was endangering his neighbors by keeping the explosives on his property.

"It could have been catastrophic had this gone off where they were located in this neighborhood," Nance said.

Belmont does not have a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to purchase fireworks, nor does he have a permit to sell them.

"At this point in time, it's under investigation. Who actually did fire off the shell that caused the injury?" Nance said.

Some other people who hold the same fireworks display license that Belmont had said it is upsetting to see a licensed operator charged with improper storage of explosives.

"It's disappointing to us because it's a bad reflection on the whole industry," said Jim Christo.

Christo and Dean Pittam each paid $10 and passed a lengthy state test to become licensed. They said the ATF license required fingerprinting, a mug shot, interview and a background check.

"A lot of restrictions for safety guidelines, which is very important," Pittam said.

Pittam and Christo said when they produce a fireworks show, they take the explosives directly from their supplier to the display site using an approved trailer. The two said they cannot understand why anyone would store the explosives at home.

"That is shocking he wouldn't have more value for his family members," Christo said.

Belmont's state license has been confiscated pending the outcome of any criminal charges. According to state records, Belmont is the only licensed fireworks display operator in Ralston. There are more than six dozen license holders in the Omaha metro area.

 

Charges downgraded in Ralston fireworks case

2005 -- Charges have been downgraded to a misdemeanor in the case of a man whose cache of commercial-grade fireworks left a teenager severely injured last month.

Jeffrey Belmont, of Ralston, had faced a charge of unlawful possession of explosive materials, a first-degree felony.

But a judge declared Belmont was eligible to hold a permit to possess the fireworks and that he was in compliance with federal licensing requirements.

Belmont, 40, now faces a misdemeanor charge of storing explosives in violation of safety regulations.

Police found more than 2,000 pounds of commercial-grade fireworks in Belmont’s basement and in a trailer outside of his home while investigating the serious injury of a 13-year-old Joshua Berger on July Fourth.

Belmont’s nephew, John Linderman, has been charged with second-degree assault for allegedly firing the explosive.

Belmont’s lawyer said his client bought the fireworks legally and planned to store them at a facility in Union, Neb. but did not because it was raining.

Berger suffered injuries to his midsection and underwent six weeks of rehabilitation before returning home earlier this month.

Punjab
4 killed, 14 injured in Fireworks Explosion

2004 -- Four persons including three members of a family were killed and 14 others suffered injuries when fireworks material exploded in the residential area of Kehror Pecca of district Lodhran on Sunday evening.

Police said, a pyrotechnist, had stored fireworks material at his house Muhallah Dkhnaan Wala in Kehror Pecca when it ripped through.

The explosion also demaged three to four nearby houses causing inujuries to the neighbours and passers-by.     As a result of which three persons died on the spot while another expired on the way to hospital.

The dead are: ---- (45), his daughters ---- (19) and ---- (14)  and a 4/5-year old child ----. The deceased's wife remained unscathed as she was away from home to fetch water.

Some fourteen to fifteen persons including two sons of deceased ---- and ---- received injuries out of which five have been referred to Bahawal Victoria Hospital while the remaining were getting treatment at the Kehror Pecca Hospital, police added.

Those referred to Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur included three women, a man and a boy.

 

Farmington
Semi explosion sparks fireworks display

Browns Valley residents had a fireworks display all their own early Saturday.

No one was injured when a semi trailer holding fireworks for Holmen Kornfest and Mindoro Spanferkel exploded about midnight in a 35-acre field at the intersection of Hwys. T and C, about three miles east of Mindoro, said Mike Hesse, town chairman and volunteer firefighter.

There was a loud explosion followed by an array of fireworks, he said.

Town of Farmington volunteer firefighters were stationed along Hwy. T and watched and waited for the explosions to detonate and diminish before they went in, Hesse said. It sparked a nearby grass fire, too.

"We stayed back for a while until it settled down," said firefighter Rick Paisley.

The explosion "blew the trailer to pieces" and the fireworks were "shooting in all directions," Paisley said.

Once it was safe to go in, Paisley said, firefighters attacked the fire with foam.

"Even with the rain we've had the last few days, the grass still burned," Hesse said. About 13 rows of corn also were lost, he said.

An area of debris 150 feet in diameter was left in the field, Hesse said. The sides of the semi were thrown at least 50 feet, and there are shreds of metal and exploded fireworks everywhere, he said.

"Twisted, mangled metal is all that's left," Hesse said.

The semi trailer, owned by Andy Olson, was a "licensed fireworks storage facility" located where it should be "in case something like this happens," Hesse said.

It had been used to store fireworks for more than 30 years in the town of Farmington and on Hwy. K, south of La Crosse, Hesse said.

Hesse said the cause of the explosion could be the heat, humidity or static electricity.

About 14 firefighters responded, and they were on scene until about 1:30 a.m.

Manchester -- U.S.A.
Inferno at fireworks store brings break in picket line

Military fire crews last night tackled a spectacular blaze in a Victorian building used for storing fireworks in Manchester city centre.   The blaze is probably the biggest that troops have tackled since the 48-hour strike began on Wednesday night.    Flames ripped through the four-storey building - believed to be a former fire station - and leapt out of the roof. Rockets and a mass of other fireworks exploded and lit up the night sky.  The blaze brought rush-hour traffic chaos as police sealed off the area and refused to allow drivers to collect parked cars.   The alarm was raised by striking firefighters from green watch at Manchester's central fire station, 50 yards away. They saw smoke and realised there were fireworks in the building.   The strikers left the picket line to check if anyone was trapped and rescued a man who had been overcome by smoke at a nearby drugs rehabilitation unit.  They also dragged acetylene and propane gas cylinders from the building then ran for cover as the fireworks exploded.   One firefighter suffered an eye injury but was not thought to be seriously hurt.   They then withdrew, leaving the fire to be tackled by 33 troops, using four green goddesses and four breathing apparatus vehicles. They had arrived within eight minutes.   "The main aim has been to contain the fire and stop it spreading to buildings in the vicinity.    A man who runs a barber's shop opposite the burning building, said: "I saw a small billow of smoke then the fireworks started going off. There was just lots of explosions and slates from the roof were sent flying in the air."

 

 

Explosions Level Truck

-- A series of explosions rocked a northeast industrial area after a load of leftover Stampede fireworks went off inside the back of a parked truck.    The three blasts -- all within 10 minutes -- sent billows of black smoke hundreds of metres into the air.

The explosion also sent fireworks and debris over the area. Two women, ages 27 and 41, were treated on scene by Emergency Medical Services for smoke inhalation and released.

For those working in the building, which suffered minor damage to its brick exterior, the explosions were gut-wrenching. "I looked out my window and saw the truck smoking and I said: 'It's gonna blow, ' " said a woman, in a business located on the second floor of the building.    Others in the building said they often tests fireworks behind their building.

"They usually fire things off once in a while," said the woman, adding the company always warned neighbours beforehand.      After the initial blast, a second went off.

"The second (explosion) shook the whole building. I went out my  back door there and I saw what was going on and got out of there."  Other witness said the seven-metre-long, five-ton National rental truck's gas tank exploded shortly after the second explosion." Then there was a big boom when the gas tank exploded and it knocked me back," said a man.

Firefighters arrived and quickly extinguished the ensuing fire, but not before the back of the cube-truck was charred ruins. Fire officials said the truck had a minimal amount of fireworks left over from this year's Stampede.

 

China:
-- Forty-seven people are reported killed in a series of explosions at a fireworks factory near Beijing. Chinese media says fireworks sellers demonstrating their wares are thought to have set off sparks which ignited fireworks stored in vehicles nearby.

 

Kyrgyzstan
fireworks explosion kills 7, injures 26

2002 -- A container of fireworks exploded Friday, detonating a gas tank in a crowded market in Kyrgyzstan's capital, killing seven people and wounding 26, officials said.    Six of the injured were in intensive care, said, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council. Workers were welding bars on the windows of a cloakroom for market employees when the fireworks container blew up and detonated a nearby gas tank, the National Security Council's press service said. The force of the blast overturned metal shipping containers, used as makeshift shops, at a radius of 330 feet. The Interior Ministry said investigators had not ruled out that the explosion was an act of terror or part of a feud between crime groups. The Dordoi market in Bishkek, where the blast occurred, is the largest wholesale market in Kyrgyzstan. Vendors were selling large amounts of fireworks for New Year celebrations.

 

U.S.A.
In Brownsville, fireworks intended for the city’s Fourth of July celebration  exploded inside a storage shed, destroying the building and injuring a teen-age girl inside.  The force of the blast, which happened around 1 p.m. Sunday, blew out several windows at a nearby office building and condominium complex.   U.S. Border Patrol agents, who were the first to arrive, pulled a 16-year-old girl from the building just minutes before it went up in flames, a Border Patrol spokeswoman said.

 

U.S.A.
Hanley and the other city fire companies spent most of the previous night fighting a fire that destroyed the main building of Pennsylvania Military College. The firemen had hardly reached their homes when an alarm sounded for a fire at the Porter Mansion at 2nd and Welsh Streets.   The fire was discovered at about 7:30 a.m.  in the former mansion that had been used in the manufacture of fireworks. The company was in the process of moving out and firemen were mistakenly informed that the supply of explosive powder had been removed. Actually some had been removed but a quantity remained.

 

U.S.A.
-- A thunderous explosion at a fireworks storage facility rocked this quiet neighborhood and killed one person when two trailers and one of several World War II-era underground bunkers filled with fireworks ignited and sent flames shooting nearly 75 feet into the air.  "Whole house vibrated" two miles away from the site.   Workers found the body of an unidentified individual "near the site" of the explosion.