A Fourth of July fireworks display ended explosively Thursday in Simi Valley, Calif., when a platform holding the pyrotechnics tipped, sending skyrockets hurtling across the ground at spectators.
Simi Valley, home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, is about 40 miles north of Los Angeles. Between 8,000 and 10,000 spectators had gathered at a park for the fireworks show put on annually by the local Rotary club. About two minutes into it, something went dramatically wrong.
Justice Allen, 17, of Simi Valley, told the Los Angeles Times she had just arrived at the park from work when rockets began flying over fences:
"There was a big boom. Everybody started running down the street. People were screaming . . . Everybody was just terrified. People hid in bushes."
Annisa Wynn told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that fireworks began shooting sideways along the ground into the crowd:
"The fireworks were so close, you could see them on the ground . . . It never happens this way. People were screaming."
Ventura County firefighters set up a triage center at the scene. Besides the four people seriously injured, 16 people were taken to hospitals with minor to moderate injuries. Others were treated at the park.
Investigators are looking into what caused the platform to collapse, Simi Valley police Cmdr. Stephanie Shannon told AP.
On the other side of the continent, a worker at a fireworks show in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., was hurt Thursday when a shell exploded prematurely.
CNN reported two other fireworks-related accidents:
- In Windsor, Colo., fireworks touched off a fire in a parched field that sent flames 10 feet into the air.
- In Seattle, an illegal firework landed on a boat cover at a boat storage yard, igniting a blaze that torched 14 boats in seven minutes. Authorities estimated damages at $1,5 million.
Said Washington Times communties columnist Eric Golub:
Police across the nation have been cracking down hard on illegal fireworks displays due to the high risk of injuries. The Simi Valley debacle was a sober reminder that even with professionally managed displays, accidents can happen.
Here's a specatator-eye view of the Simi Valley accident posted on YouTube: