2003 -- A massive fireworks
explosion in Florida claimed a fifth life Thursday when a severely burned worker died in a
Tampa hospital, authorities said.
The fireworks detonated Wednesday
afternoon as workers prepared to set up a July Fourth display at Lovers Key State Park,
about 30 miles south of Fort Myers. Four people were killed in the blast initially, and
officials said their bodies had not been identified.
The fifth victim died Thursday morning
at Tampa General Hospital, where he was taken for treatment of life-threatening burns,
said a spokeswoman for the Bonita Springs Fire Department.
The scene of the explosion smoldered
Thursday as firefighters continued dumping water on the site. They said they feared that
coastal breezes might fan new fires. Another cache of fireworks exploded overnight,
Redfield said.
"Even our command post has been
moved back about a quarter-mile from the scene," Redfield said. "Our experts
expect there was probably a very good chance there still could be live explosives all
around the area." The dead are believed to have worked for a
company that was setting up the display Wednesday.
Agents from the federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives questioned the company's president Thursday
afternoon, said a spokesman for the Lee County Sheriff's Department. The
explosion triggered multiple secondary blasts that scattered debris around a 100-yard
radius on a peninsula separating the Gulf of Mexico from Estero Bay.
"Some of the shrubs and trees are
charred," Redfield said. "There are some remains of the semi tractor-trailer --
it appears most of the fireworks were in that truck. There's also the cab and a little bit
of the back of a box truck, and a pickup truck that was also
burned." One woman escaped with minor injuries by diving underwater
when the blasts erupted.
About 80 people -- including
paramedics, police bomb squads and federal agents -- are involved in the investigation,
and the cause had not been determined Thursday. "We may never know what took
place. The park has been closed, and the fireworks display canceled.
"A tragedy of this sort is
devastating to a community like Bonita Springs," Redfield said. "People who were
working to give us a beautiful holiday celebration were killed doing their jobs, and we
mourn for their friends and families."
Five killed in Lover's Key
Fireworks explosion claims fifth victim
The
fireworks explosion on Lover's Key has claimed its fifth victim. Manager of the
company hired to put on the Bonita fireworks display, was taken to a Tampa burn unit in
critical condition. Officials at Tampa General Hospital say he died overnight. Meanwhile,
the bodies of the four other victims remained at the scene overnight because investigators
were worried that some of the fireworks could still detonate.
The explosion ripped through a tractor trailer
loaded with fireworks being prepared for Friday's Fourth of July display.
Deputies
said the victims were transferring the fireworks from one truck to another when the
tractor trailer being used exploded on the bay side of the island, near a canoe launch
area.
Four people died at the scene, and two were
transported to area hospitals. Officials said Thursday morning that a victim was treated
and released from HealthPark.
KSDK-TV, the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri,
reports that one of the victims killed at the scene was reported to be the driver of one
of the trucks.
The couple is from Jefferson County, Missouri.
Of
the remaining victims, the station reports that two were from Alabama and two were from
Florida, including the manager
According to Lee County Sheriff's Office Public
Information Officer Michael Maschmeier, there were five men and one woman moving the
fireworks from one truck onto another truck when the explosion happened.
A Fort Myers Beach resident who lives at the Estero
Beach Club, witnessed the explosion. "It sounded like something crashed into the
building we were in. It was extremely loud, a sonic boom type," he said.
"There's no flames or anything visible, just smoke, still smoke at this time."
Investigation
opened Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Tampa say the
agency has opened an investigation into the incident. The website for the Fireworks Co. of
St. Louis, MO, says the company has been in business for 40 years and has done shows for
clients ranging from Walt Disney World to the Jacksonville Jaguars football team.
FBI, ATF, the State Fire Marshall and state bomb
squad, DEP, Red Cross, Lee County Emergency Management and several fire departments are
all on the scene.
Deadly July 2 fireworks explosion
-- The
explosion happened while the six were moving a payload of fireworks from a tractor-trailer
to a box truck at Lovers Key/Carl E. Johnson State Park. The combustibles were
scheduled for the annual Bonita Springs display as well as for the Naples Jaycees' show.
The explosion shortly after 2 p.m. demolished both trucks and spread debris across the
canal and plumes of black smoke over the 1,600-acre park.
The two local shows were canceled. When news of the
accident spread, pyrotechnists around the country shot off an extra red firework in
memoriam on Independence Day.
The sole survivor wasn't near the men when the
explosions started. She jumped into a nearby canal and suffered only minor smoke
inhalation.
Fireworks Trailer Explodes
A tractor-trailer loaded with fireworks exploded into a cauldron of colors
and flames at a park beach Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring two others
as they prepared for two local Fourth of July celebrations, authorities said.
Bonita Springs City Manager Gary Price said the 2:10
p.m. blast happened as workers were transferring part of the load of fireworks to another
truck for a display in East Naples.
"In the process of transferring, breaking down
the load, putting part of it on another truck, something set it off and the whole truck
blew up," Price said.
Flames and bursting fireworks shot from the truck,
setting several small brush fires. Hours after the blast, smoke rose from a blackened pine
tree and the charred remains of the two trucks, which had been parked back-to-back, plus a
pickup truck that was parked a short distance away.
"It just all happened at once," said Kevin
McKenzie, who was mowing grass about 300 feet away. "Immediately it was all the
fireworks going off with all the colors and the flames."
The names of the dead and injured were not immediately released. One man was
in critical condition and transferred from the trauma unit of Lee Memorial Hospital to a
Tampa hospital, said Alex Reichart, an administrative supervisor with Lee Memorial Health
Systems in Fort Myers. A woman was listed in good condition at Memorial's HealthPark
campus, he said.
The blast was on a tip of vacant land at Carl
Johnson State Park on Lover's Key, on the north end of Bonita Beach between Fort Myers and
Naples.
The bodies remained at the scene overnight because
authorities were concerned about the safety of the area and did not know whether all of
the fireworks had detonated, said Lee County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Michael Maschmeier.
"Right now it's still a dangerous
situation," Maschmeier said.
The state fire marshal's office and the U.S. Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were handling the investigation.
Mary Mike Dearden, an employee of the Lover's Key
Beach Club and Resort, said she felt the earth shake. Guests at the resort saw smoke and
heard explosions from the park, less than a mile south of the resort.
"At the front desk we heard the explosion starting like a clap of
thunder and then it kept rolling," she said. "As it rolled on it felt like a jet
breaking the sound barrier, but it kept going and we knew it was something else."
The fireworks were from Sunset Fireworks' of
Dittmer, Mo. Someone answering the phone at the company's main office said company
principals were on their way to the scene from Missouri.
According to the company's web site, Sunset
Fireworks has operated for more than 40 years in pyrotechnics and has served events for
organizations such as Walt Disney World, Six Flags Theme Parks, the St. Louis Cardinals
and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The company was sued in February by two workers who
were injured in explosions that killed two others at a suburban St. Louis fireworks plant
in Nov. 1999.
Price said the company had orchestrated the city's
fireworks display last year and shot off the fireworks from a barge. The city spent
$20,000 for a planned 30-minute show this year that was not using the barge, he said.
"We used them last year. We were very
satisfied," Price said. He said the Friday night show has been canceled.
"I think everybody's a little bit in shock - I
am. It's just hard to believe," Price said. "The event you're setting up for
everybody's enjoyment to celebrate our anniversary of our country results in such
tragedies. It's just hard to believe."
Lisa Douglass, a past president of the Naples Jaycees, said the civic
organization had worked with the company for four years. She said the fireworks show in
East Naples would be postponed until New Year's eve and organizers were planning a
candlelight vigil on the Fourth of July to honor the victims.
"These people that we've lost today are people
that we've grown close to," Douglass said. "They put on the best fireworks
display, in my opinion, that I've ever seen."
Meanwhile, in Altamonte Springs near Orlando in
central Florida, fourteen shells that were to be used in the city's Red, Hot & Boom
fireworks display discharged into the sky after a nearby lightning strike Wednesday
afternoon. No one was injured.
Bonita Springs is on the Gulf of Mexico between Fort
Myers and Naples.
Bonita Springs
Florida Fireworks Explosion Kills Four
-- Investigators were keeping
their distance Thursday from the site of a fireworks blast that killed four people,
worried not all of the $20,000 worth of explosives had detonated.
Workers were transferring the fireworks from one
truck to another at 2:10 p.m. Wednesday when a series of powerful blasts erupted, shooting
colorful flames into the sky and shaking the ground. Two other workers were injured.
"It just all happened at once," said a man
who was mowing grass near the truck. "Immediately it was all the fireworks going off
with all the colors and the flames."
The fireworks were bound for the annual Independence
Day display Friday in nearby East Naples. Officials said the event had been canceled.
"It's just hard to believe," said Bonita
Springs City Manager Gary Price. "The event you're setting up for everybody's
enjoyment to celebrate our anniversary of our country results in such tragedies. It's just
hard to believe."
The state fire marshal's office and the U.S. Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were investigating the cause.
However, the bodies remained at the scene overnight
because authorities did not know whether all of the fireworks had detonated, said Lee
County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Michael Maschmeier.
"Right now it's still a dangerous
situation," Maschmeier said.
The explosion occurred on a tip of vacant land at a
state park in Bonita Springs, a city of about 30,000 near the Gulf of Mexico between Fort
Myers and Naples.
An employee of the Lover's Key Beach Club and
Resort, said she felt the earth shake. Guests at the resort saw smoke and heard explosions
from the park, less than a mile from the resort building.
"At the front desk we heard the explosion
starting like a clap of thunder and then it kept rolling," she said. "As it
rolled on it felt like a jet breaking the sound barrier, but it kept going and we knew it
was something else."
Hours after the blast, smoke rose from a blackened
pine tree and the charred remains of the two trucks, which had been parked back-to-back. A
pickup truck that was parked a short distance away was also burned.
One injured man was in critical condition at a
hospital in Tampa and a woman was hospitalized in good condition, officials said.
The fireworks were from Dittmer, Mo. A person who
answered the phone at the company's main office said officials were on their way to the
scene from Missouri.
Price said the company had orchestrated the city's
fireworks display last year and shot them from a barge. The city spent $20,000 for a
planned 30-minute show this year, he said.
Lisa, a past president of the Naples Jaycees, said
the civic organization had worked with the company for four years.
"These people that we've lost today are people
that we've grown close to," she said. "They put on the best fireworks display,
in my opinion, that I've ever seen."
According to the company's Web site, the company has
been in the pyrotechnics business for more than 40 years and provided fireworks for
organizations including Walt Disney World, Six Flags Theme Parks, the St. Louis Cardinals
and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The company was sued in February by two workers who
were injured in explosions that killed two others at a suburban St. Louis fireworks plant
in November 1999.
Not the first explosion
for fireworks company
Wednesday’s blast on Lover’s Key is not the first major
explosion for the Fireworks company, the company contracted to work Bonita Springs’
Fourth of July celebration. There have been three other major accidents involving the same
fireworks company.
In two of the previous explosions, workers
affiliated with the Fireworks company died.
Federal regulators dropped a $242,000 fine on a
division of the Fireworks company for the willful disregard of safety regulations in a
June 2001 explosion in DeSoto, Missouri.
A woman, 51, lost her right leg in the explosion two
years ago at the fireworks plant. She's now suing the Fireworks company.
"I was in the burn unit at St. Johns for six
months, AJ was in the burn unit for three, and on the floor for three months. It’s
been two years last month, and I’m still doing physical therapy," she said.
Federal regulators issued safety related fines to a
division of Sunset, in two other explosions – a 1999 blast that killed one, and a
2000 explosion that killed another employee.
She says she's not surprised to hear the Fireworks
company might be in trouble again.
"I figured it would happen again. They’ve
tried to close them, but they've never been able to do that. I just don't think they
should be open," she said.
Wednesday’s explosion on Lover’s Key could
lead to a nationwide investigation of the Fireworks company and all of its affiliates.
A spokesperson for the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration says that's normal – particularly when regulators see so many
incidents tied to one company.
Normally, OSHA won't shut companies like this down
unless they can prove workers are in imminent danger. Most of the time the agency will
only issue steep fines and hope the company corrects its actions.
Missouri fireworks company indicted
A federal grand jury has indicted two businesses
with direct ties to the company hired to put on an Independence Day fireworks show for
Bonita Springs that turned deadly last month. Tuesday’s indictment stems from
separate incidents in Missouri, not the explosion that killed five people on Lover’s
Key.
The indictments charge two affiliates of Sunset
Fireworks, the company contracted by Bonita Springs, with seven counts including
conspiracy, obstruction, and illegally transporting explosive materials.
A 1999 explosion at a Missouri fireworks plant is
just one of many serious safety problems Pyro Products has had over the years.
"The defendants transported hazardous waste,
that's fireworks waste, to an unpermitted facility, that is their farm in Cuba,
Missouri," said Ray Guender, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Pyro Products strongly denies allegations that it
handled fireworks inappropriately.
Some of the principal officers in Pyro Products also
work for Sunset Fireworks. Federal investigators are still looking into Sunset’s
deadly fireworks explosion on Lover’s Key.
But investigators do not yet know what caused the
Lover’s Key explosion – or if they'll file any criminal charges as a result.
Employees who suffered severe burns in the Missouri
explosion say both Pyro Products and Sunset Fireworks should be shut down.
"How're they gonna stop this from happening to
somebody else? Me and Lori's [sic] a perfect example if they're not careful with what
they're doing, and this is what happened to us," said explosion victims Sharon
Hillman.
Two federal agencies tell NBC2 they're continuing
their investigation of the July 2nd explosion on Lover’s Key and aren't close to
having any solid answers as to what went wrong.
Bonita Springs
Some mistook it for thunder, others for the sonic boom
of a jet. As her windows rattled and a massive cloud of smoke and dust arched into the
sky, one woman thought her community was being bombed.
A truckload of fireworks destined for a popular July
4 show near Fort Myers exploded at a beachside park Wednesday, killing four workers and
injuring two more.
Witnesses said the sudden and violent explosion left
victims scattered throughout the burned wreckage. The semitrailer truck hauling the
fireworks was quickly engulfed by multicolored flames.
Thick, tar-black smoke coiled into the cloudless
sky.
"First it sounded like thunder, a rolling
thunder, then we realized it wasn't," said Mary Mike Dearden, a reservation agent at
nearby Lovers Key Beach Club and Resort in Bonita Springs. "Then for a second we
thought it was some sort of jet, and if it is, then it's in trouble. Then we didn't know
what it was."
Minutes later, guests by the resort pool began
pointing at smoke rising over Lovers Key/Carl E. Johnson State Park, site of an annual
Fourth of July fireworks show that draws thousands of people.
"We knew the fireworks were being staged there,
and we knew in our hearts that something had happened," Dearden said.
Bonita Springs City Manager Gary Price said the
explosion occurred as the workers were transferring some of the trailer's load to a
smaller truck for transport to another show in Naples.
The names of the four dead and two injured were not
released Wednesday night. Of the injured, a man who was severely burned was transferred to
the burn unit at Tampa General Hospital. A woman was in good condition at a Fort Myers
hospital.
The cause of the accident remained under
investigation Wednesday night.
"In the process of transferring, breaking down
the load, putting part of it on another truck, something set it off and the whole truck
blew up," Price said.
The explosion occurred at Lovers Key, at the north
end of Bonita Springs, just south of Fort Myers Beach. The state park consists of a series
of islands and marsh, and the crew was unloading the truck at a remote area called the
canoe launch. No park visitors were in the area, authorities said.
Flames and bursting fireworks shot from the truck,
setting several small brush fires. Hours after the blast, smoke rose from a blackened pine
tree and the charred remains of the two trucks, which had been parked back to back, plus a
pickup truck that was parked nearby.
"It just all happened at once," said Kevin
McKenzie, who was mowing grass about 300 feet away. "Immediately it was all the
fireworks going off with all the colors and the flames."
Matt Phillips of Atlanta, who was staying at Island
Beach Club condominiums across the street from the park, said he and his son were in the
pool when they heard "two loud, distinct booms."
They thought the noises were nearby thunderclaps and
prepared to go inside, but the sky was clear of clouds. A few minutes later they saw the
smoke.
"That's what it felt like, that lighting just
struck less than a quarter-mile away," Phillips said. "It's just amazing to
think the sound we heard here, and those guys being right there. I can't imagine there
being anything left.
"When we saw the news and saw the
tractor-trailer, all you saw was wheels and axles."
Park employees contacted by the Times said they were
told not to discuss the accident, and the park manager could not be reached for comment.
The fireworks belonged to Sunset Fireworks of St.
Louis, a major supplier of professional pyrotechnic displays. According to the company's
Web site, past customers include the St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Walt Disney
World, and festivals in Orlando, Chicago and Madison, Wis.
The company was sued in February by two workers who
were injured in explosions that killed two others at a suburban St. Louis fireworks plant
in November 1999. Someone who answered the phone there Tuesday said supervisors were en
route to Bonita Springs.
Price said the company orchestrated the city's
fireworks display last year, when the fireworks were shot from a barge near the park. The
city had spent $20,000 for 30-minute show this year, he said.
Friday's show at the park has been canceled. The
Naples show, which was to be sponsored by the Naples Jaycees, will be postponed until New
Year's Eve. Lisa Douglass, past president of the Jaycees, said the group had worked with
Sunset for four years, and organizers planned a candlelight vigil Friday to honor the
victims.
"These people that we've lost today are people
that we've grown close to," she said. "They put on the best fireworks display,
in my opinion, that I've ever seen."
- Information from the Associated Press and Fort
Myers News-Press was used in this report.
Survivor of deadly explosion speaks out
For the first time, the lone survivor of the July
2nd fireworks explosion on Lover’s Key, Juanita Combs, spoke about the tragedy. Five
people were killed in the explosion, including Combs’ husband, Russell. Combs said
the tragedy could have been prevented. She said the boxes they unloaded were not properly
labeled and the crew wasn’t properly trained.
She still has her wedding ring.
“My husband was a wonderful man,” said
Combs.
But her husband of 27-years is gone.
Juanita Combs lost her husband Russell in the
fireworks explosion at Lover’s Key on July 2nd. She was there too, helping to unload
boxes for a fourth of July fireworks show.
And then it happened.
Then everything. Sparks coming down, things hitting
me and I could smell the smoke I could feel the heat. Then it stopped,” she said.
Combs jumped into Estero Bay. When she got out, she
saw a massive fire and could hear people screaming.
And then, moments later, there was a second major
blast.
“They were blown to bits. There was... there
was nothing,” said Combs.
Five people, including her husband, were killed.
So why did the explosion happen?
Combs said one of the victims, Kenny Kinard, knew
something was wrong the minute they started unloading.
She said Kinard called Sunset Fireworks in Missouri
just moments before the blast, but apparently didn't get any answers.
“And then he made another phone call and wanted
to know who the hell loaded the truck,” said Combs.
Part of the problem, according to Combs was the lack
of training. She said Sunset Fireworks should stop cutting corners.
“What if that truck had been at the parking lot
at Walt Disney? More people are going to die if something doesn't change. They have to
change things or shut down. One or the other,” said Combs.
Sunset Fireworks’ attorney said all of their
employees are properly trained. They said Juanita Combs wasn’t trained because she
doesn’t work for the company, she just went along for the ride with her husband.
The attorney confirmed Ken Kinard called that day,
but said the call gave no reason for alarm, that he wanted to know which fireworks went
with which shows.
Sunset representatives said they are waiting to
interview Combs as part of its internal investigation, but her attorney said she's not
emotionally ready to speak with them yet.
The victims of the July 2nd explosion were:
Russell Combs from Dittmer, Missouri James Rooker of
Cocoa Beach Ken Kinard of Cocoa Beach Bryan Brown of Louisiana Eugene Brown of Louisiana.
NBC2 Special report.
