The year, 1976. The location, the proposed Mall 205 lot (it hadn't been built yet) in Portland Oregon.
My parents spent a couple hours getting us to the fireworks show. It was sort of OK.
All of a sudden, a malfunctioning mortar exploded a little too low. Then another did.
The show went on.
Then one lobbed into the crowd. It exploded next to a young woman about 30 feet from us. My dad rushed in to help.
The fireworks continued.
Emergency personnel showed up about 20 minutes after the incident. She went away in an ambulance with burns on her legs.
The year 2020 or so. The location, Eugene Oregon. I took my family to see the fireworks show being put on by a charity organization. I was a national director for this organization. I helped set up the fireworks show.
When it came time to set off the fireworks, I was with my family in the crowd.
A malfunction occurred. (I know what and how and why the malfunction happened and I told them it seemed wrong). One of the mortars exploded in it's tube and prematurely set off all of the mortars next to it. An inferno of epic proportions ensued. It caught the field on fire. The fire truck standing by was on the scene within 2 minutes hosing down the field. They had hosed it off before the lighting of the fireworks.
Nobody was hurt as the fireworks had a very large margin between them and the crowd and they were all tilted away from the crowd.
We still see fireworks shows. The only reason there are less is because they cost money and nobody wants to pay for them anymore.
And they're safer now.
The same will happen with drone shows. They will go on. We will learn from this accident.
My parents spent a couple hours getting us to the fireworks show. It was sort of OK.
All of a sudden, a malfunctioning mortar exploded a little too low. Then another did.
The show went on.
Then one lobbed into the crowd. It exploded next to a young woman about 30 feet from us. My dad rushed in to help.
The fireworks continued.
Emergency personnel showed up about 20 minutes after the incident. She went away in an ambulance with burns on her legs.
The year 2020 or so. The location, Eugene Oregon. I took my family to see the fireworks show being put on by a charity organization. I was a national director for this organization. I helped set up the fireworks show.
When it came time to set off the fireworks, I was with my family in the crowd.
A malfunction occurred. (I know what and how and why the malfunction happened and I told them it seemed wrong). One of the mortars exploded in it's tube and prematurely set off all of the mortars next to it. An inferno of epic proportions ensued. It caught the field on fire. The fire truck standing by was on the scene within 2 minutes hosing down the field. They had hosed it off before the lighting of the fireworks.
Nobody was hurt as the fireworks had a very large margin between them and the crowd and they were all tilted away from the crowd.
We still see fireworks shows. The only reason there are less is because they cost money and nobody wants to pay for them anymore.
And they're safer now.
The same will happen with drone shows. They will go on. We will learn from this accident.
