Wild moment terrified beachgoers flee as Fourth of July fireworks are accidentally set off in Ocean City – leading to officials canceling ALL celebrations
- Video of the incident shows the fireworks for a Fourth of July celebration exploding by accident all at once at 11am in Ocean City on Sunday
- Local firefighters said employees for the fireworks company received minor injuries in what they described as an ‘unintended discharge’
- The accidental explosion appeared to send beachgoers running amid a plume of smoke, but nobody else was injured
- The accident prompted the beachside city in Maryland where it took place to cancel all of its fireworks events for the evening
The Fourth of July pyrotechnics came a bit early for beachgoers in a coastal city in Maryland who were sent running after a cache of fireworks were accidentally set off as workers set up for this evening’s display.
The accident sparked a huge explosion around 11am on the Ocean City boardwalk. Video of the incident shows a a large portion of the beach enveloped in smoke and terrified beachgoers fleeing to safety.
The accident also led to the cancelation of all previously planned fireworks events in the city.
The incident, which firefighters in Ocean City described as an ‘unintentional discharge’ of fireworks, resulted in minor injuries for employees of the fireworks company behind the show.
Workers behind a Fourth of July fireworks show in Maryland accidentally set off the pyrotechnics early on Sunday, creating a massive explosion
Local fire officials said workers setting up the fireworks suffered minor injuries but were the only ones hurt in the explosion
No one on the beach or nearby boardwalk was injured, according to the Ocean City Fire Department.
‘Our Fire Marshals are on the scene and will investigate the cause of the unintentional discharge,’ Ocean City Fire Chief Richie Bowers said in a statement, adding that a safe zone established around the fireworks show before setup likely prevented further injury.
‘Prior to the fireworks being off loaded from the vehicle, Fire Marshals secured a safe zone around the fireworks and put other safety protocols in place. It is this very zone and safety protocols that kept anyone else from being injured,’ he said.
Firefighters with the Ocean City Fire department had initially responded to the scene believing a vehicle was on fire, only to discover fireworks accident
Another fireworks show had been scheduled in the city for 9.30pm, but was cancelled out of an abundance of caution, fire officials said, as the cause of the explosion is investigated
Firefighters initially responded to the scene believing a car was on fire, only to discover it had been a fireworks explosion, according to the department.
Two free fireworks shows had been scheduled for 9.30pm in the city. Both, however, were cancelled after the explosion out of ‘an abundance of caution,’ fire officials reported.
The cause of the explosion is still being investigated, and the investigation will likely take several days, the fire department said.