PINEDALE – During the recent Fourth of July fireworks display in Pinedale, firefighters from Sublette County Unified Fire (SCUF) experienced a potentially serious incident while igniting fireworks. The incident occurred about halfway through the planned fireworks display.

After firefighters ignited one of the 5-inch fireworks shells, the shell detonated inside the mortar rather than traveling skyward. This shell caused damage to the surrounding 5-inch mortars and lit multiple fuses of the adjacent shells simultaneously. These adjacent shells ignited instantaneously and multiple ground-level shells detonated in the area.

Firefighters – dressed in “full structural fire protective clothing” in addition to hearing protection – immediately took evasive action.

“We actually talked about that beforehand during the safety briefing,” said SCUF chief Shad Cooper. “In case of the unexpected, everybody needs to duck and cover, and that’s exactly what the guys did.”

As part of the display set-up, organizers also establish “breaks” in between the various shell groupings, which prevented any additional shells from igniting.

This incident caused a small spot fire near the cemetery.

No serious injuries occurred – only “a couple of bumps and bruises from the debris that was flying around,” according to Cooper – and only minor damage resulted to one of the volunteer firefighters' vehicle.
“Firefighters quickly initiated our safety plan at the ignitions area and they also initiated the emergency response plan for the spot fire,” said Cooper.

Each year, the fire department establishes a safety zone to keep spectators away from the hazardous ignitions area.

“This safety barrier is very important because of exactly this type of situation,” Cooper said.

Following the ground-level explosions and the subsequent spot fire, the show resumed without incident about 15 minutes later.

According to Cooper, who was standing “right there in the middle of it,” the after-action review of the incident indicated there was some sort of “restriction in the mortar” that prevented it from exiting the tube. Instead, “it just sparked and sparked as it was trying to come out of the mortar,” and it was those sparks that led to the ignition of other shells.
Every year, the towns of Big Piney/Marbleton, and Pinedale purchase the fireworks for their communities and local firefighters play an integral role in the shows.

“Our volunteer firefighters donate their time to set up and provide the safe firework displays for everyone to enjoy,” Cooper said. “We would like to recognize our volunteer firefighters for their proactive planning that provided a successful firework display again this year. This could have been a very serious incident that instead worked out well because of everyone’s efforts.”