Fireworks Truck Explodes, Killing 4

A tractor-trailer full of skyrockets and other professional-grade pyrotechnics for Fourth of July festivities in southwestern Florida exploded Wednesday as it was being unloaded, killing four fireworks company employees in a thunderous blast and injuring two others, officials said.

“For some unknown reason, it blew up,” said Brandy Cartaino, spokeswoman for the Lee County Sheriff’s Department.

Some of the truck’s dangerous cargo was being unloaded at a state park in the Gulf Coast town of Bonita Springs when the explosion occurred around 2 p.m.

According to Bonita Springs City Manager Gary Price, workers from Sunset Fireworks Ltd. of Dittmer, Mo., were splitting the load between Bonita Springs, which paid the company $20,000 for a 30-minute Independence Day display, and for another Friday evening event sponsored by Junior Civitans, a civic group, in nearby Naples.

A man mowing the grass 300 feet away told the Naples Daily News that the explosion took place without warning, and sent flames and fireworks shooting from the truck.

“Immediately it was all the fireworks going off with all the colors and the flames,” Kevin McKenzie was quoted as saying.About a mile south of Lovers Key/Carl E. Johnson State Park, the site of the blast, employees at a beach club resort said the explosion sounded like a clap of thunder, or a jet breaking the sound barrier but continuing to roar. The blast was heard at least two miles away.More than two hours later, fires were still burning in the state park, a mangrove-fringed area of tidal lagoons where visitors can see roseate spoonbills and other wading birds.

Authorities closed the facility to the public as they battled the flames and searched for additional victims. Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office also began probing the cause of the explosion.

Lee County authorities did not release the names or occupations of the victims, but the Bonita Springs city manager said all worked for Sunset Fireworks. The firm claims more than 40 years’ experience in staging fireworks shows and well-known clientele, including the St. Louis Cardinals and Rams, Walt Disney World and the Ford Motor Co.

One of the company’s employees who survived the blast and fire was hospitalized in critical condition at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, hospital administrative assistant Alex Reichert said. He was due to be moved later in the day to Tampa General Hospital, which has a special burn unit.

His injured co-worker, a woman, was hospitalized as well but is listed in good condition, Reichert said.

Within hours of the tragedy, Bonita Springs canceled the fireworks show.

A receptionist at Sunset Fireworks headquarters, located about 30 miles southwest of St. Louis, referred a reporter’s call to the American Pyrotechnics Assn., a Bethesda, Md.-based trade organization for the fireworks industry. Officials there could not be reached for comment.

The association said in a press release on its Web site that despite a six-fold increase in fireworks usage since 1976, the rate of injuries due to fireworks has fallen by 88%, setting a 26-year low. The APA forecast “robust” fireworks sales for the Fourth and estimated Americans will spend $775 million on fireworks this year.