Two injured in Lake James fireworks explosion

Credit: Louis Asbury III

A hot ember from a discharged fireworks round fell into a bucket that held other fireworks and set off a chain reaction Saturday on Lake James.

By: Sharon McBrayer | Morganton News Herald
Published: July 06, 2009

MORGANTON --

The Burke County Fire Marshal's Office is investigating a mishap with fireworks on Saturday at Lake James as part of a Fourth of July celebration.
The incident sent one person to an area hospital and another was treated at the scene, said Burke County Sheriff's Office Deputy Scott Grasse. The names of those injured weren't released.
Grasse said the incident happened on the lake at the entrance from the main channel to Mimosa Boat Landing. Grasse explained that, as part of a fireworks show, a dock was floated out to the entrance of the business and the fireworks were launched from the dock.
Fire Marshal Mark Pitts said the incident is still under investigation and he is still conducting interviews so he can't say for sure what happened.
From what he's been able to gather so far, however, Pitts said all safety precautions were followed. All of the materials were covered with a heavy canvas tarp, he said, and the proper equipment was on board.
Grasse, who responded to the scene, said witnesses told him a hot ember from a discharged fireworks round fell into a bucket that held other fireworks and set off a chain reaction.
About half of the fireworks in the bucket went off, Grasse said. The wayward fireworks hit several boats, bounced off several different boat docks and a yard of a home at the lake, he said.
No bystanders were injured, Grasse said. But one person involved with the fireworks display was taken to Grace Hospital and treated for burns and another person was treated at the scene, he said.
Pitts said the permit issued for the fireworks show was to Table Rock Pyrotechnic Services. The group was formerly known as Table Rock Shooters.
Gregg Gettys, coordinator with Table Rock Pyrotechnic Services, said no one from his group was injured or involved in the incident. He said it was a private group on the dock using private, consumer fireworks who were involved in the incident. No fireworks from his group were involved, he said.
A video of the mishap has been posted to youtube.com. (Click on "Related Links")
Louis Asbury III caught it on video and posted it to the popular online video Web site. Asbury, who lives in the South Pointe community on the lake and is a film producer, said he and his wife went to a friend's house for dinner on Saturday evening.
He set up his camera pointing toward the dock where the fireworks would take place and just let it run.
When the explosion on the dock occurred, Asbury said, several people commented that something wasn't right.
Asbury said three of the people he had dinner with that night were going to work on the fireworks show. The wife of one of the men working on the show stayed at the home where they had dinner, Asbury said. When she saw what happened, she was immediately concerned, he said. Her husband called, however, to let her know he was OK and had jumped in the water when the mishap occurred, Asbury said.
Asbury said when he got home that night and played back the video on a large monitor, he could clearly see what happened. He took the footage, put it to music and posted it to youtube.com.

Two injured in Lake James fireworks explosion

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