The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Fireworks barge catches fire
MIDDLETOWN — The city’s fireworks display was cut about three minutes short Saturday night as crews on board a fireboat worked to extinguish a blaze on the deck of the barge setting off the pyrotechnics show, according to officials.
No one was injured in the incident, Fire Chief Robert Kronenberger said.
“One of the racks was burning with all the plastic tubes they fire the shells out of. As the fire grew, it moved on to floor rack,” he said.
Before fire crews could move in, the chief gave the order to discharge all the remaining explosives on board. “We ended up firing all the shells, getting everything off the barge as quickly as we could,” he added.
Once the threat of more shells going off was minimized, he sent in his firefighters aboard the vessel.
In all, only 25 were lost.
“It would have been more dangerous for us to get involved as the fire was burning. We needed to get in before it spread anywhere else. We’re pretty positive we know what happened,” Kronenberger said.
However, there was some question as to whether there were two flare-ups or one, the chief said.
“It looked like they had knocked it down, so the question is did they truly put out the fire and it was a second one, or they just didn’t put the fire out (completely). That’s the part we don’t know,” Kronenberger said.
“We had an unexpected fire on the barge, which grew pretty big. We don’t yet know the cause but the fire [marshal] will be looking into it,” Mayor Dan Drew wrote on his Facebook page after the fireworks ended.
“During the fire, a few shells exploded on the surface of the barge. The shooters were inside a steel box on the deck the entire time and were communicating continually by radio with our command post. I am very pleased to report that they’re all safe,” he added.
In videos spectators posted of the fire on social media, at least one of the fireworks
can be seen exploding on deck as several others sporadically continued to shoot off into the air. Illuminated by the blaze, smoke billowed into the air above.
As the fireboat moved in from the water, sending a giant arc of water onto the flames, there were cheers from the crowd.
A similar thing happened during Fourth of July festivities a few years back.
“Four or five years ago, we had a small fire, which ruined the wiring for about 100 shells. That happens
from time to time, because you have to remember there’s a lot of paper involved in it,” Kronenberger said.
“While it wasn’t overly dangerous for the four people that were still on the barge, we had a little gap in the show and everybody was saying, ‘What’s going on?’
“We had that fire that put a gap in the show, this one happened after the show,” Kronenberger said.
Extensive preparation and safety precautions employed as soon as the barge arrived at Harbor Park Friday morning are key, the chief said.
“We’re dealing with explosives.
“The most important thing is the four people who were on the barge were all safe.”
Fire Chief Robert Kronenberger
As they come out, you hope they’re powerful enough to get out of the tube,” Kronenberger said. “That’s the danger of working with fireworks. These guys are professionals — imagine somebody who wasn’t trained in the use of these got ahold of them, what kind of damage could have happened,” the chief said.
“The most important thing is the four people who were on the barge were all safe,” Kronenberger said. “We had communications with them the whole time. They did their job,” he added.
Middletown, Portland and Cromwell fire departments helped extinguished the blaze.
Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com or Twitter @cassandrasdis.