Fireworks, Gunpowder Explode in Trailer; Owner Is Badly Burned

An illegal cache of fireworks and gunpowder exploded in a trailer and a shed New Year’s Day, critically injuring a man believed to own the collection and knocking neighbors off their feet.

Robert Rinaldi, 40, was allegedly working with fireworks inside the trailer on his father’s property in Plymouth when the explosion occurred shortly before noon, police said.

Rinaldi, who faces explosives charges from a previous incident, was badly burned and listed in critical condition at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Police believe a kerosene heater sparked the explosion in the trailer, which was packed with gunpowder and fireworks.

Both the trailer and shed, adjacent to Rinaldi’s father’s home near Sandy Pond, were engulfed in flames when police, firefighters and ambulances arrived at the scene, said Plymouth Police Lt. Victor Higgins.

Debris from the explosion hung from tree limbs, floated in the pond and scattered over the small neighborhood.

“It blew my wife and my son off the couch onto the floor,” said neighbor Bob Berglund, who was knocked off his feet. “We had to literally crawl--like combat style--into the bedroom. I mean rockets are flying all over the place and stuff’s coming down all around us.”

Another neighbor, Tom Mulligan, found Rinaldi burned and in the pond after the explosion.

Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office seized 15 cases of unexploded fireworks from the shed and trailer. Rinaldi allegedly stored both fireworks and gunpowder.

Rinaldi was scheduled to appear in court today on explosives possession, manufacturing and distribution charges filed against him last summer.