Leonard Camilleri was standing just outside the workshop of the St Joseph Fireworks Factory, where he had been building a petard, when he noticed a spark inside the room and ran for his life.
Both Mr Camilleri and Mr Mizzi were licensed to make fireworks
An explosion followed but Mr Camilleri, the licence holder of the Kirkop factory, got away with a slight injury to his right arm, his friend Angelo Schembri said.
The accident took place yesterday morning at about 11 a.m. Mr Camilleri was the only person injured.
Another man, Jesmond Mizzi, was in one of the factory’s stores at the time. He did not suffer any injures since all six rooms making up the factory are built at a safe distance from each other, according to Mr Schembri, the secretary of the St Joseph Musical Society, which owns the factory.

OWENS CROSSROADS, AL (WAFF) -
One woman is injured in a chemical fire at a Huntsville fireworks plant.

Emergency and fire crews responded to Luna Tech Inc. on 148 Moon road in Owens Crossroads Saturday morning.

Fire crews were able to put the fire out.

"Upon arrival, one of the buildings where they mix the pyrotechnics caught on fire and had one person that had second degree burns to the face and hands," said Aaron Pearson, Chief Deputy Fire Marshal.

The woman was taken to UAB Burn center by ambulance for treatment.

On September 07, 2010, the Gharb firework factory exploded, four died on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries in hospital some days later.
Investigations into the cause of that explosion and a number of others that occurred over the last 30 years have brought to light a multitude of facts from “improper use of volatile chemical mixtures” to human error.

The inquiry board chaired by Alfred Vella from the Chemistry Department at the University of Malta handed its report to the Home Affairs Minister on Wednesday. The other board members were chemist Servolo Delicata, biologist Victor Axiak and fireworks enthusiast Joe Theuma.

The quality of chemicals used in the manufacture of fireworks was deemed to be safe, yet the use of potassium chlorate, (instead of potassium perchlorate) mixed with metals is producing fireworks which are unstable and can easily denote.

MADURAI: Four women were seriously injured when some chemical mixture exploded in a fireworks unit near Sivakasi of Virudhunagar district on Thursday morning. The accident occurred when the factory workers were making crackers. The building partially collapsed in the fire accident.

...
On Thursday, 50 employees were working at the fireworks unit at Vadapatti, belonging to one Sukumar (50) from Sivakasi. The accident occurred at around 12 pm when manufacturing was under way. There was a loud explosion and the fire that broke out spread to the building, seriously injuring four people. Two of injured have been admitted to the Rajaji Government Hospital in Madurai while two others were taken to the Sivakasi Government Hospital.

MADURAI: With just three weeks to go for Diwali, another accident in a fireworks unit has claimed two more lives, taking the number of deaths in the fireworks industries in Virudhunagar to 26 this year. The latest mishap is the fifth major accident in 2011. This is also the first time in recent years that so many deaths have been recorded in the fireworks industries in a single year.

On Monday morning, about 150 employees reported to work at the Indian National Fireworks, belonging to M Kesavan (45) of Periyar Nagar in Sattur. P Antony Raj (25) was carrying a bag containing a chemical mixture on his shoulder and reached one of the 36 work sheds when the explosion occurred. The accident occurred at about 10.30 am when manufacturing was underway. There was a loud explosion and the fire that broke out spread to the second room, killing another worker, M Mani (35). Both hail from the same Vallampatti hamlet in the district. Both the work sheds were completely gutted in the explosion.

PRESS RELEASE: HONOLULU— The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations’ (DLIR) Hawai‘i Occupational Safety and Health Division (HIOSH) has completed its investigation of the April 8, 2011 Waikele bunker explosion that claimed the lives of five employees of Donaldson Enterprises, Inc. (DEI) and has proposed penalties in the amount of $415,200. Donaldson Enterprises, Inc. will have an opportunity to contest the penalties.
A state, county and federal multi-agency team was formed to investigate this incident because of the various jurisdictional issues and the magnitude of the event. The explosion occurred on the morning of April 8, 2011, as employees of Donaldson Enterprises, Inc. were taking apart commercial grade cake-style fireworks within Bunker A-21 at the Waikele Self Storage.

“We have concluded that there were so many unsafe working conditions and work practices that could have caused the explosion. To continue efforts to find a single cause would neither be productive nor serve our mission of assuring safe and healthful working conditions for every working person in the State,” said HIOSH Administrator Jennifer Shishido.” “At the end of our investigation, we identified eleven potential causes for the explosion, each of which carries a penalty for violating health and safety laws.”

TULSA - The Tulsa Bomb Squad was called out to a residence after the landlord found around 20 pounds of barium nitrate and potassium chloride in the backyard.

The landlord was cleaning up his rental property in the 500 block of South Louisville when he noticed a white powder, said Acting Assistant Fire Chief Mike Atchison.

The powder was identified as barium nitrate and potassium chloride, Atchison said.

Both are legal to buy and widely used to make fireworks, he said.

The bomb squad was called to dispose of the chemicals.

The renter will not face any charges because the chemicals are legal to buy.

 

There is no further public threat following a deadly explosion Monday that rattled an Independence neighborhood, authorities said Tuesday.

However, anyone who finds debris perhaps related to the blast should contact the Independence police, they said.

Also, authorities reminded residents not to make fireworks or try to alter commercially made fireworks.

“The risk and devastating consequences are much too high to gamble one’s life with, or the live of a loved one,” said Tom Gentry, Independence police spokesman.

Authorities made no announcement Tuesday as to what caused the late-afternoon explosion Monday in Independence. Nor did they identify the individual who died in the blast, which apparently occurred in a detached garage behind a home in the 3300 block of Blue Ridge Boulevard.

MADURAI: Two men were killed and four seriously injured when some chemical mixture exploded in a fireworks unit near Sivakasi in south Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The accident occurred when the factory foreman went into the storage room where the chemicals were stored and opened the sacks to distribute it to the workers to make the pieces of fireworks, police said.

The fireworks unit, owned by R Kanagavel, is located at Narikudi near Sivakasi. The workers had reported for duty as early as 7am. At around 7.30am, five of them had gone to the storage room to receive the chemicals for mixing. Foreman Shiva (33) was opening the chemical cans in the room when there was a loud explosion and two men Irulandi (37) of Thiruvedapuram and Chelladurai (28) of Subramaniapuram were charred to death instantly.

Workers killed by an explosion of fireworks at an underground storage facility in Waikele on April 8 should not have been working on them in that bunker, according to a mainland-based fireworks expert who often serves as a consultant for fireworks firms.

Five employees of Donaldson Enterprises were killed and another worker injured when aerial fireworks stored in the concrete-lined, tunnel-like structure exploded as they were either in or just outside the bunker, police and fire officials said.

Don Holmstrom, lead investigator for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board on the Waikele incident, told the Star-Advertiser on Wednesday that the tunnel was being used not just for storage, but for preparation for demolition at another, unidentified location.

Holmstrom told The on Thursday that the workers "were in the process of dismantling some of the pyrotechnic devices that were in the storage area."

An explosion of fireworks inside a Glendale Heights home forced police to evacuate nearly a dozen homes in the neighborhood on Wednesday.
Natural gas is reportedly not to blame for touching off the morning explosion at the home in the 400 block of East Altgeld Avenue.
The 56-year-old homeowner was found right inside the door of the home and was rushed to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.  Inside, police said the home was full of fireworks, prompting hazardous materials crews and federal agents to be brought in.
"There's a sufficient amount of fireworks in the house that we felt it was appropriate to call the bomb squad and for them to clear and make sure everything is safe in the building," said Dep. Chief Tom Bialas.

MADURAI: Virudhunagar deputy tahsildar A Chandrasekhar said the body, which was claimed by two women, was identified as that of David Livingston (33) and handed over to Rajapushpam. Murugeswari was given the remains of her husband, Gunasekharan (32).

Fire officer Karunakaran said improper handling of chemicals could have caused the explosion.

The chemical mixture used in fireworks needs to be filled in cases immediately in wet form as otherwise they are highly inflammable. "We suspect the workers left the wet mixture when they took their tea break," he said.

Kannicheripudur village administrative officer lodged a complaint with the Vachakarapatti police, stating that the unit had used unauthorised chemicals that led to the explosion.

Last year, 15 persons were killed in similar accidents in the region. The state government had launched a crackdown to ensure that safety norms and regulations were strictly followed in the factories, some of which function without even licenses.

LOS FELIZ -- A hazardous materials team and the bomb squad were called to a home in Los Feliz where police say fireworks were being made illegally.
Authorities responded to the home in the 3400 block of Lambeth Street around 5:20 a.m. after receiving reports of an explosion, said Cecil Manresa of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The hazmat team and bomb squad technicians removed the fireworks-making materials from the buildings.
Two people who were exposed to nitrates were taken to an area hospital.

Taylor -- A 21-year-old resident is hospitalized today with serious injuries to his face following an explosion in a garage Tuesday night, according to the Taylor Police Department.
A preliminary investigation points to chemical materials used to make homemade fireworks as the possible cause of the explosion, police said.
Taylor Police and firefighters were called to the explosion on the 25000 block of Greenlawn Street about 8 p.m. Tuesday. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) were called in to assist.
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ATF agents seized materials to be analyzed.
Two 14-year-old neighbors who were visiting the home at the time of the explosion were treated at area hospitals for injuries to their eyes and ears. Both teens are expected to be fine.