A wooden platform holding live fireworks was tipped over during a Fourth of July celebration, shooting the pyrotechnics into a crowd in Simi Valley, California, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Nearly 10,000 people were gathered to view the spectacular Fourth of July show on Thursday evening at a park in Simi Valley. However, instead of viewing fireworks in the sky while sitting comfortably in their chairs, the onlookers were forced to frantically flee the scene as they saw the fireworks shoot toward themselves. The trails of the red and white firework bursts scattered across the ground and injured 28 people while forcing the others to seek safety.
Justice Allen, 17, of Simi Valley recounts the Fourth of July accident to the Los Angeles Times. "There was a big boom, everybody started running down the street, people were screaming...Everybody was just terrified. People hid in bushes."
How could the structure give way when the platform itself was designed to specifically hold fireworks? Simi Valley Police Commander Stephanie Shannon said that the structure collapsed for "unknown reasons." Police are still investigating the causes of the collapse.
Commander Shannon said that the fireworks primarily shot in one direction, travelling "the same distance across the park as they would in the air." She also mentioned, "The ones that had actually ignited that had to run their fuse were going directly into the crowd." Such limited path and delay of explosion perhaps saved many lives that evening.
Because of this Fourth of July disaster, four people are hospitalized in serious condition with no life-threatening injuries and sixteen people were taking to the hospital to treat minor to moderate injuries. Firefighters were on seen and able to set up a triage and treat the rest of the people. According to ABC news reporter Nick Watt, people with "eye injuries, arm injuries," and "second-degree burn injuries" were present in the triage center.
With some pieces of fireworks embedded into the bodies of some of the injured and thousands left in confusion, treatment and investigation still continues.
© 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
