8 Killed in Stampede to Escape Blaze in Ohio Fireworks Store

A blaze that began on a dare destroyed a fireworks store busy with Fourth of July shoppers Wednesday, killing at least eight people and injuring 12 as they stampeded toward the front door.

Witnesses said three men started the blaze by setting off fireworks inside the store with a cigarette or a lighter. Police charged one of the three late Wednesday with eight counts of involuntary manslaughter.

“I believe that two of them put the third one up to it. It appears that it was a joke turned deadly,” Lawrence County Sheriff Roy Smith said.

“They just wanted a little excitement. They just got a lot more than they wanted.”

Bottle rockets whizzed, strings of firecrackers exploded and smoke filled the cinder block Ohio River Fireworks building as about 40 people scrambled for safety, witnesses said.

“They were stampeding. They were blocking it, basically because they all were trying to get out at once,” said Beverly Pruitt, the daughter-in-law of the store’s owner.

Pruitt, 29, of Crown City said witnesses told her a man lit a box of fireworks in the back of the store. Fire and smoke blocked the rear exit.

The eight dead all were found within five feet of the front door, Smith said.

Todd Hall, 24, of Proctorville, was charged with eight counts of involuntary manslaughter and held in the Lawrence County Jail pending arraignment Friday in Municipal Court, Smith said.

The identities of the other two men in custody were not released and no charges were filed against them Thursday night.

A worker who left the store minutes before the fire said he returned after hearing the popping a mile away.

“The first thing I saw was a bunch of things going and smoke rolling. I heard a lot of people screaming and coming out of the building. It’s a shame it had to happen,” said Gary McGuire, 21, of Mercerville.

The eight dead included at least two children--one 2 or 3 years old, the other about 9. They were found huddled around an adult inside the building, nestled in a wooded hollow in southern Ohio near the West Virginia line, he said.

Frank Meehling of Huntington, W.Va., said he ran out of the store, then went back inside when he realized his wife, Elizabeth, and son, Hunter, were not behind him. His wife and son escaped unharmed and he began pulling other people out.

The store sells small fireworks to the public. They can be purchased legally in Ohio but must be taken out of state to be set off.

It also sells larger types of fireworks used in public displays, but they were stored in another building and were not ignited.