Texas Fireworks Disaster: Celebration Goes Wrong After Trailer Explosion Near High School
This year, a small Texas town's Independence Day will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
A tragic accident took place at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning when a trailer exploded in Comanche, Texas. One person was killed and several others were injured by the blast. The USA Today reported that "four individuals were injured, three of those critically."
At the time of the explosion, workers were installing tubes on the Comanche High School softball field, according to local TV news station and ABC affiliate WFAA. Those tubes would have been filled with fireworks, but the explosives prematurely went off inside the trailer housing them.
Dallas-Fort Worth CBS affiliate KTVT caught up with Comanche's City Development Director Jackie Stewart and asked her about the explosion.
Stewart said that the trailer was parked next to the field. The trailer was completely decimated, and two other vehicles in the vicinity of the explosion also caught on fire. The fireworks were scheduled to be set off tonight as they had been for each of the previous 23 years' July 4 celebrations.
Comanche police are unsure of what exactly triggered the explosion. A joint investigation has been launched in conjunction with the town's volunteer fire department, according to Fire Lt. Marcus Nettleton.
Worker error doesn't seem to be the case though. The Los Angeles Times reported that everyone working on the setup was trained to handle fireworks.
"These were very experienced men in what they were doing," Lt. Nettleton said. "They knew what they were doing."
Unfortunately accidents like this are all to common, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
"Injuries were frequently the result of the user playing with lit fireworks or igniting fireworks while holding the device. Consumers also reported injuries related to devices that malfunctioned or devices that did not work as expected, including injuries due to errant flight paths, devices that tipped over and blowouts," the agency remarked.
It's unclear if Comanche town officials will attempt to hold the fireworks display at a later date.
The names of the deceased and injured have not been released.
Have you ever had a fireworks accident? What happened? Was it your fault? Let us know in the comments section below.
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