Tulsa World: Fire marshal investigates severe burnings at fireworks show

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Fire marshal investigates severe burnings at fireworks show

By Associated Press
Published: 7/10/2007 8:44 AM
Last Modified: 7/10/2007 1:19 PM

PIEDMONT -- The state Fire Marshal's Office on Monday began investigating an explosion at a fireworks show that severely burned a brother and sister who were part of the production crew.

Travis Dillard, 25, and Shannon Wilson, 27, suffered burns when a firework exploded close to the ground and lit a barrel of unused fireworks during Saturday night's show at the Piedmont High School football stadium, authorities said.

"We don't really know what happened yet," said Steve Frantz, vice president of Western Enterprises, the outdoor fireworks company that put on the weather-delayed Independence Day show.

The siblings, who worked for Western Enterprises for several years, helped put on the show with seven others, Frantz said.

Pastor Jim McNabb of The Bridge Assembly of God Church said Shannon Wilson has burns over 35 percent of her body. Dillard has burns to about 50 percent of his body, McNabb said.

A fund has been set up for the victims at First Fidelity Banks across the metropolitan area, he said.

Western Enterprises does hundreds of outdoor fireworks shows annually across the country, Frantz said. The company, based in Carrier, has been hired to put on the Piedmont show for at least three years, Frantz said.

Western Enterprises workers make about 30 percent of the fireworks used in their shows, Frantz said, but company officials aren't sure whether the defective firework was manufactured by their company or made overseas.

"We've never had an accident of this magnitude with our technicians," he said. "There have been minor things that happen in the course of any kind of construction project, but nothing of this major kind of injuries."

The company employs fewer than 20 full-time workers, Frantz said.

By Associated Press

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