Explosion in fireworks factory USA

[Vavoom]

Fireworks factory blast leaves 2 critically injured


Victoria E. Freile
Staff writer


(March 2, 2006) - Two workers at a fireworks factory in Allegany County were seriously injured yesterday after materials they were working with exploded.

Emergency crews were called to Grand Fireworks Inc. in Clarksville, Allegany
County, just before 1 p.m. after an explosion occurred during the
manufacture of pyrotechnic devices commonly used in fireworks displays,
according to New York State Police.

Karl Marvin, 51, of Bolivar, Allegany County, and Andrew Beck, 22, of Cuba,
Allegany County, were transported to the Erie County Medical Center via
Mercy Flight and Star Flight, troopers said. Both men were listed in
critical condition.

Troopers were investigating the incident.

 

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Two killed in fireworks explosion: Men die after massive blast at Allegany County
pyrotechnics operation

By JOHN ANDERSON - Wellsville Daily Reporter
JOHN ANDERSON/Wellsville Daily Reporter

Investigators look over the scene Wednesday where two men were killed in
an explosion at a pyrotechnics operation on the corner of Wolf Run Road
and LeFever Road in Clarksville.

CLARKSVILLE - Two men were killed after an explosion at a pyrotechnics
operation on the corner of Wolf Run Road and LeFever Road in the Allegany
County community of Clarksville Wednesday at 12:55 p.m.

State Police Senior Investigator John Wolf confirmed this morning that Karl
Marvin, 51, of Bolivar and Andrew Beck, 22, of Cuba, died sometime
Wednesday night at the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo.

Marvin and Beck were airlifted from the scene by Mercy Flight and Star Flight
after the explosion and were listed in critical condition early Wednesday
evening.

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation by troopers and the
federal agency ATF (Alcohol Tobacco Firearms).

Fire officials confirmed to the Daily Reporter that this is not the first explosion
at Pearl Pyrotechnics in Clarksville, as another explosion destroyed a facility
within the last five years. However, there were no injuries during the
first explosion.

State Police Captain John Hibsch said Marvin and Beck were "moved about
the inside of the building," during the explosion while they were working.

The building was 40-foot by 60-foot and had three to four foot high concrete
walls on the outside of the single-story wood structure. It was completely leveled.

"It was leveled right after it happened, the explosion leveled it," said
Hibsch. "There were still some heavy-duty flames when we arrived and
some debris burning in the center. My understanding is one person crawled
out on his own, and the other victim was extracted by one of the fellow
workers who was outside."

Troopers said they had several 911 calls, including one from a neighbor in
the rural area who heard the explosion but did not see it.

Hibsch said Pearl Pyrotechnics manufactures pyrotechnics commonly used for
fireworks displays.

"It is a commercial pyrotechnics facility and as far as we know, they are
a registered, licensed operation," said Hibsch.

Clarksville Fire Chief Frank VanSickle said when he arrived, "it was
pretty much a mess ... just a couple hot spots."

VanSickle said in addition to Clarksville, Cuba, Friendship, New Hudson, Westons
Mills and Portville were on the scene along with ambulances from Cuba, Portville,
Clarksville and Westons Mills until 11:07 p.m.

The Allegany County MAZMAT team was also on the scene along with the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation, OSHA and the Allegany
County Sheriff's Department.

 

[999]

WOW this is VERY sad.

I've been in contact with the owner of Pearl pyrotechnics after seeing some of his great shells. He makes some superb quality ball shells, good enough to compete with anything from Japan or elsewhere. Sadly, he was planning on closing his buisness within one year, because people didn't want to pay the price for American made fireworks. What a sad way to close up shop, especially for such a highly skilled shell builder.

The only bright side, is that the owner of Pearl Pyrotechnics name was not listed in this article, so hopefully he is still alive. :'(

 

[Vavoom]

WOW this is VERY sad.

I've been in contact with the owner of Pearl pyrotechnics after seeing some of his great shells. He makes some superb quality ball shells, good enough to compete with anything from Japan or elsewhere. Sadly, he was planning on closing his buisness within one year, because people didn't want to pay the price for American made fireworks. What a sad way to close up shop, especially for such a highly skilled shell builder.

The only bright side, is that the owner of Pearl Pyrotechnics name was not listed in this article, so hopefully he is still alive. :'(

I hope I can give you some ease of mind with the message below written by Jeff(ery) Doty himself.

"In order to both clarify and inform:

The accident was at Grand Fireworks. The 911 call was sent using my phone
(Pearl Pyrotechnics) so the early news stories stated that it was at Pearl.

Karl and Andy were pressing whistles. We heard a whistle for about 2 secs
and then the blast. I talked to Karl before the EMTs arrived. He stated that
he didn't know what happened. The ATF has finished their investigation and
labeled it an accident involving pressing whistles.

The earlier "explosion" that the Wellsville paper mentioned was a barn fire.
The site used to be a dairy farm. The barn was used for storage - mostly
paper and boxes. But, I had two drums of magnesium and Grand had drums of
Mg/Al and 10890 Al in the barn. When the fire department arrived, they were
told about the contents of the barn and that they couldn't put water on it.
Unfortunately, this occurred in November of 2001, after the terrorist
attacks and while the news media was full of stories about how heroic
firemen are. I believe that went to the fire chief's head. He insisted on
fighting the fire anyway and ordered his men to roll out their hoses and
spray water on the barn. When they did, it turned into a huge fireball and
knocked the firemen on their butts. Luckily, they weren't hurt. They pulled
out their hoses and let it burn. This time, they were much less cocky and
more cautious. They asked about the chemicals in the building and were
willing to listen.

<snip>
Jeff Doty"

 

[xavier]

Is it possible having a mass explosion with only the components for making the whistle. You don't need aluminium and perchlorate components for making a whistle effect.

 

[999]

Is it possible having a mass explosion with only the components for making the whistle. You don't need aluminium and perchlorate components for making a whistle effect.

ABSOLUTLY!!!!


There are various whistle compositions out there. Most that I've seen use kp as the main oxidizer, and are VERY energetic. Many whistle compositions in loose powder form, loaded into a strong casing will act just like a normal kp/s/al salute. Some builders will advise you to treat whistle mix with the same respect that you'd give to flash. It may not have all the associated hazards of fine metals, but it is certainly somthing you still have to respect.

 

[Vavoom]

I agree.

The powers and dangers of whistle mixes are all too often underestimated by some and/or unknown to some. I'd also say that it should at least be handled like flash.

 

[xavier]

I didn't know that. On the U.N. default list I saw there is a ristriction of whistle components for the mines. Max. 3 gram each cartridge for 1.4G
Now I know Why.
A cartridge with whistle effect (finish product) can it have the same explosion danger as a thunder cartridge. Or is the danger only with the production and not for transport of finish products (cartridge).

 

[999]

In general, once a whistle composition is compressed into a tube under great force, it will not burn as rapidly as a loose powder. It still produces a LOT of gas though, so if your whistle casing is not proper, you can have a whistle device explode (if more pressure is generated than the nozzle (or case, in devices with no nozzle) can flow) the pressure has to release somewhere. This is more of a rupture than a explosion, but still makes a good bang.


Small whistles don't have quite the same action of mass det like small salutes. For example, laying 100 properly made 3g whistle inserts in a pile and giving it fire, will probably just end up in monster saturn missile battery type device. 100 3g salutes, will end in one giant kaboom.

Now take the same 100 small whistles and pack them tightly in a carton & tape it shut to give just a little confinement. Introduce fire to the center of the mass, and I think you would be likely to end up with a few whistles, then a mass explosion. It could go either way, but explosion is not out of the question.

Hope that helps.

 

[Sparkey]

This is an eye-opener...
Now I also understand why some of the very small whistling bottle rockets (baby-rocket for European standards) I used to lite in my childhood (and so one..) sometimes spontaniously exploded!

 

[Vavoom]

This is an eye-opener...
Now I also understand why some of the very small whistling bottle rockets (baby-rocket for European standards) I used to lite in my childhood (and so one..) sometimes spontaniously exploded!

That's exactly why. Never too old to learn.
Whistling bottle rockets also tend to explode when they hit an object while flying (at least the old ones did).