A shocking video of a fire and explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Yolo County has surfaced on Reddit. This is one of more videos that are now doing the rounds on social media.
The dramatic video shows the fire burning and massive smoke billowing. Shocked Reddit users reacted to the video, with one commenting, “I live about 10 miles away, 3 separate BIG explosions, shook my house and scared the sh** out of the dogs”. “Hope no one was hurt in the incident,” one user wrote, while another said, “I swear a fireworks warehouse explodes every single year, there has to be some sort of safety standards these places aren’t following.”
What we know so far
According to officials, the fire is at an Esparto business involved in importing and exporting fireworks and commercial fireworks near County Road 23 and County Road 86A, ABC 10 reported. The fire led to various spot fires and explosions. At least 80 acres of land were burned before the fire could be contained.
"We do believe this location is owned by an active pyrotechnic license holder, and as part of our investigation, we will be working to determine that everything happening at the facility was within our license requirements. This type of incident is very rare, as facilities like this are required to not only follow our stringent California pyrotechnic requirements, but also federal explosive storage requirements," said California Deputy Fire Marshal Kara Garrett.
{{/usCountry}}"We do believe this location is owned by an active pyrotechnic license holder, and as part of our investigation, we will be working to determine that everything happening at the facility was within our license requirements. This type of incident is very rare, as facilities like this are required to not only follow our stringent California pyrotechnic requirements, but also federal explosive storage requirements," said California Deputy Fire Marshal Kara Garrett.
{{/usCountry}}The cause of the fire is being investigated. Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, said after the incident, "What happened at that facility that would have sparked such a significant explosion and for it to transfold so very, very quickly? And, I think that's what we're eager to know. Again, the firework industry has an impeccable record when it comes to safety, and so getting to the bottom of what sparked this particular incident is very important to us.”
Heckman added that there very restrictive guidelines are in place to determine how fireworks can be stored. "Backyard consumer fireworks are very restricted in the amount of pyrotechnic composition that they may maintain. They are limited to a maximum of 500g of pyrotechnic composition, whereas professional commercial fireworks can exceed that in multitudes of levels," she explained.
Observing the visuals of the incident, Heckman said it appeared as though commercial fireworks were involved in the blaze. "The emergency response for a fire involving professional commercial fireworks is do not fight the fire, secure the area, evacuate everyone, and let the event happen. You never try to fight a fire with professional fireworks. Consumer fireworks on the other hand, you can wet down the area next to it," she said.