Blast at Illegal Fireworks Plant in Ohio Sets Off Fireball; 9 Die

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — An illegal fireworks facility exploded in a “tremendous fireball” Monday, killing at least nine persons, destroying the shed and hurling debris hundreds of feet, authorities said.

The blast at what apparently was a manufacturing plant was heard as far as 10 miles away and broke windows at least 2,000 feet away, authorities said. Where the shed had stood, only a spot remained, with debris strewn about it. A nearby barn was heavily damaged.

“We just saw this tremendous fireball,” said Don Getz, who lives in the area. “It was followed a few seconds later by the explosion. There was just garbage, shrapnel, wood flying everywhere. Fireworks casings were just scattered everywhere on the ground.”

The explosion occurred at 10:55 a.m. in Beaver Township, a rural community about 20 miles south of Youngstown near the Pennsylvania border. It tossed one body 471 feet, and body parts were found as far as 185 to 200 feet away, said Mary Kissos, a coroner’s assistant.

No license had been issued permitting such a facility at the site, said Jeffrey Huntley, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Industrial Relations, which licenses wholesale fireworks concerns and manufacturers.

Among the debris were undrilled and unpacked shells used to make M-80 and M-100 fireworks.

“We’re probably looking at either a manufacturing site or a sales and distribution point,” Mahoning County Sheriff Ed Nemeth said of the shed that was leveled by the explosion.

Wayne M. Lovan, head of the Youngstown office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said one of that agency’s national response teams would investigate.