3 Missing in Blast at Texas Fireworks Warehouse

A day after a deadly fireworks explosion in Florida, a blast in this small town destroyed a warehouse full of fireworks, leaving three workers missing, authorities said.

At least five people were injured, and nearby homes and businesses were damaged.

“It’s pretty bad,” Mayor Joe T. Parker said. “We’ve got houses in the neighborhood damaged, people out of their houses, and we’re still fighting a fire, although we’ve got the explosives contained, we believe.”

The blast destroyed the offices of Lamb Entertainment near downtown Kilgore, about 115 miles southeast of Dallas.

The company was preparing for 12 fireworks shows today, including one in Kilgore, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said.

“There was a hell of a boom ... I wondered if somebody ran into the side of the building. The floors shook and everything,” said Jay Pemberton, who works at a radio station in Kilgore, about two miles from the site of the explosion.

“The walls, everything. It just vibrated the heck out of everything,” Pemberton said.

“It was bad, people were all running scared. This is a small town. This never happens here,” said Justin Singh, owner of a convenience store half a mile from the warehouse.

Marti Mason, an administrative assistant in the Kilgore Police Department, said officers evacuated several blocks.

Bob Ellzey, chief executive officer of Laird Memorial Hospital in Kilgore, said the five people treated there had suffered minor injuries, mostly cuts and scrapes.

The explosion occurred as investigators in the Gulf Coast town of Bonita Springs, Fla., picked through the blackened site where a truck full of fireworks detonated Wednesday, killing four.

A fifth victim died on Thursday.