Fireworks explosion on Maryland beach cancels town’s celebration, video shows
A town in Maryland was forced to cancel its July 4 fireworks shows after some exploded on a beach.
The fireworks accidentally went off near Dorchester Street in Ocean City on Sunday as workers with the fireworks company were setting them up for the town’s show, according to the Ocean City Fire Department.
A video taken by Matthew Gilberg and shared by Storyful showed the explosion on the crowded beach.
Another taken by Gino Pambianchi and shared by Storyful shows the explosion from the boardwalk. A cloud of smoke can be seen coming from where the fireworks were going off.
The employees setting up the fireworks were injured in the explosion but “refused transport” to a hospital, the fire department says. No others on the beach or the boardwalk were injured.
“Prior to the fireworks being off loaded from the vehicle, fire marshals secure a safe zone around the fireworks and put other safety protocols in place,” Ocean City Fire Chief Richie Bowers said in a statement. “It is this very zone and safety protocols that kept anyone else from being injured.”
But the fire department says all fireworks shows planned for the Fourth of July in Ocean City have been canceled out of an “abundance of caution.”
Parts of the boardwalk have also been closed to pedestrian traffic and officials have put up a “perimeter around the fireworks site,” the fire department says.
Fire officials say they are investigating what caused the fireworks to go off and are conducting “inspections at each firework location.”
“At this time, the cause of the fireworks discharge is unknown,” the fire department said. “A perimeter around the fireworks site has been established and will remain in place until the safety inspections are complete, which could take several days.”
No other information was released as of Sunday afternoon.
This story was originally published July 4, 2021 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Fireworks explosion on Maryland beach cancels town’s celebration, video shows."
