Explosion at Woodland fireworks show sends firefighter to hospital
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A Woodland volunteer firefighter was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta after an explosion brought an end to the Woodland Fourth of July fireworks show Friday night.
The injured firefighter suffered multiple burns but is expected to recover.
According to Woodland mayor Scott Carter, the accident occurred about two minutes into what was planned to be about a 30-minute fireworks show.
A spark ignited a box of unused fireworks mortars that were going to be part of the show, causing them all to go off simultaneously.
“Evidently a spark or something went into that box and it lit that whole thing of mortars,” Carter said.
The reaction in the crowd was immediate, as something clearly had gone awry.
“Whenever it happened you could tell it was pretty intense on the ground. Because they’re way out in the pasture a pretty good distance,” Carter said. “As soon as I saw it I said, ‘That wasn’t supposed to happen.’”
The show is conducted by the Woodland volunteer fire department, and volunteer firefighters light the mortars to launch them as part of the annual display. The injured firefighter was involved in lighting the fireworks for the display.
According to Carter, Woodland ignites its fireworks from a flatbed trailer, and their launchers are steel tubes bolted to the trailer. The accident did not occur because of misfired or poorly aimed fireworks.
Carter said things could have been much worse, but the firefighters wear their full turnout gear while conducting the show and lighting the fireworks.
“If he hadn’t had his gear on and his helmet on, it would have been really bad. Really bad,” Carter said.
State fire marshals conducted an investigation late into the night, and the bomb squad came to collect the unused mortars to professionally dispose of them as a precaution.
Carter said that the investigators confirmed to him that everything that Woodland was using was legal for the type of show they were conducting.
“It’s just a freak accident,” Carter said. “We’re praying for that young man and glad to hear that he’s going to be okay.”
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