No one was injured but La Jolla’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display was interrupted — and shortened — by defective fireworks that prematurely exploded more than halfway through the show.
“Nine feet of defective pyrotechnics which come in ‘cakes,’ discharged on the ground 14.5 minutes into the 25-minute show,” said Deborah Marengo, La Jolla fireworks organizer. “At that point, the fire marshal came in and inspected, noticing that another 9-foot cake had been damaged, the finale fireworks, and deemed that not usable.”
“The show continued and, gratefully, no one was injured,” Marengo said noting the Independence Day display was halted “for a good five minutes,” while the fire marshall was inspecting. She added both the unidentified pyrotechnics company, and the fireworks manufacturer, were both notified of the snafu.
“We’re waiting to hear back from them,” noted Marengo adding “I do feel the companies are responsible for this, and we will be pursuing some form of credit to the community for the mishaps.”
“We’re investigating the incident further, gathering more information, and we will meet to see what we’re going to do next year to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Marengo said.