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Fireworks Ka-Boom Kills 13 in Mexico

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More Than 150 Injured

A SMALL TRUCK FILLED WITH FIREWORKS was accidentally set alight Friday in a Central Mexican village that was celebrating their patron saint.  It is believed that an errant sky rocket set off by a celebrant landed on the truck and ignited the cargo.  The resulting blast hurled bodies about and killed several people immediately.

Associated Press

The religious processional and holiday was taking place in Jesus Tepactepec, a village east of Mexico City.  The Associated Press is reporting:

"They were in a procession, they were shooting off rockets and it exploded and fell onto the other ones," said Jose Mateo Morales, director of the Tlaxcala state civil protection department. "It was very serious."

Human remains and burned clothes were spread around a 100-yard (100-meter) radius, including on rooftops, a photographer at the scene said.

The victims were marching in an annual procession in honor of Jesus Christ, the patron saint of Jesus Tepactepec, a village of about 1,000 people, Mateo Morales said.

Helicopters, dozens of ambulances and soldiers from the area's military base rushed to the village, about 70 miles east of Mexico City.

At the time of this posting the tolls had risen to 13 dead and 154 injured.  The counts are expected to rise as more victims are found.

EuroNews posted this video report:

 

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Posted by on March 16, 2013 • Filed under: explosion, Fire Rescue Topics, Videos • Tagged: ,

Fireworks Ka-Boom Destroys Chinese Highway Bridge

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Big Fireworks + Shoddy Construction = Missing Bridge

A TRUCK CARRYING A LOAD OF FIRECRACKERS BOUND FOR the Lunar New Year's Day sales in Henan Province, central China, blew up while traveling across a highway bridge Friday morning. 

Reuters

The force of the explosion brought down the overpass and several autos and other trucks with it in a 90-ft. drop.  Nearly 300 feet of bridge was destroyed.

Zuma

The official government news releases say that six people have died, but early witness reports say that there may have been as many as 20 or more deaths.  Several independent news sources are quoting 26 fatalities and about a dozen injured.

This truck barely made it.  (Reuters)

The (UK) Daily Mail has more details and an extensive photo gallery HERE.

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Posted by on February 1, 2013 • Filed under: explosion, rescue, Rescues • Tagged: , ,

Fireworks Handler Fails – Ka-Booms His House

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Kansas Man Loses Entire Home

A BLUE SPRINGS, KANSAS, MAN DESTROYED HIS house Saturday morning while performing some sort of activity with his cache of fireworks.  The Kansas City Star reports:

The owner, who suffered minor injuries, told authorities that he had stored a lot of fireworks in the house, said Eddie Saffell, assistant chief of the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District.

At the time of the fire, the owner said, he was “cutting into some or tearing them apart or doing something with them,” Saffell said. “We are still trying to piece that together.”

The blast occurred about 9:15 a.m., but by the time firefighters arrived at 2401 Glen Drive, the fire had destroyed much of the 3,000-square-foot home.

KMBC-TV

When the first units arrived the house was already fully involved with fire through the roof.  Suppression efforts were successfully directed to protecting the exposures.

KMBC-TV / Thomason

The FD has requested assistance from the ATF in their investigation.  The homeowner was treated for minor burns and released.  No FF injuries were reported.  The house with an estimated value of $170,000, is a total loss.

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Posted by on March 13, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: ,

Are Those Pipes Warm Yet?

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Watch Out For the Gunpowder

A DORR, MICHIGAN, FAMILY IS SLEEPING ELSEWHERE since Wednesday after the homeowner’s son tried to thaw out a frozen water pipe with a torch.  Unexpectedly, he set the wall on fire while he was engaged in the effort, but instead of trying to put it out, he ran away.  That’s most likely because the lad knew that his father’s cache of professional fireworks stored in the basement was unforgiving once they caught on fire.

He managed to get away from the house before the almighty boom roused the neighborhood and blew the side wall out of the house, starting a rapidly-spreading fire.

WXMI-TV

Dorr Township Fire Department had over 20 firefighters dispatched to the scene around 9:30 am and they had the fire under control in 90 minutes.  WXMI-TV Ch. 17 interviewed some of the neighbors who described in this video report what it was like when the initial explosion detonated:

  

WZZM-TV reports:

Dorr Township fire quickly arrived on the scene. Soon after, Wayland Fire was dispatched to assist.  “We still had explosions going off when the first teams got here,” said Harold Schumaker, who is the Dorr Township Fire Chief.  ”We basically got here and kept everybody back until we had enough people to protect them.”

Firefighters could not enter the house while a continuous
series of explosions were taking place.  (Grand Rapids Press)

The home owner, who was at work at the time of the explosion, believes the incident was caused when his son tried to thaw a frozen pipe with a blow torch.  “He [home owner's son] went into the garage and got a torch and heated the pipe up outside, not realizing that the pipe was going into the house and he was heating the wall up,” said home owner, Mike Winger. “The wall caught on fire inside and that’s where the fire started.”

Michigan State Police Bomb Squad was called in from Lansing to confiscate the remaining fireworks from the home. The fire marshal and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) was also called to the scene to investigate the home owner’s explosives.

“It’s believed they’re illegal fireworks,” said Trooper Thomas Coles of the Michigan State Police Wayland Post. “They’re basically mortar shells that shoot out of a mortar tube.”

Trooper Coles added that Mr. Winger does have a criminal history in possession fireworks in the past.

The Grand Rapids Press has MORE.

Posted by on February 25, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Fires, Videos • Tagged: , , ,