PROVO, Utah (AP) — Malfunctioning fireworks exploded into the stands of a crowded Utah football stadium, hitting the crowd during a Fourth of July CelebrationAccording to authorities and the event organizer, six people had to be taken to hospital.
The accident happened during the opening ceremony of the Stadium of Fire showthe main event during the annual Freedom Festival in Provo at Brigham Young University’s LaVell Edwards Stadium.
According to Freedom Festival spokesman Emory Cook, organizers halted the show for about 15 minutes while injured spectators received medical attention.
Six people were taken to hospital, Cook said, but it was not immediately known how many people were hit by fireworks or how serious their injuries were.
The cause of the accident, in which fireworks were set off at the stadium while several planes flew overhead, is being investigated by local authorities.
Videos posted on social media showed individual fireworks that deviated from the cluster sent into the air above the field and landed among rows of spectators in the stands in the outdoor arena. About 45,000 people attended the sold-out show, Cook said.
“There was definitely a fireworks malfunction, but we’re still trying to figure out how that happened,” Cook said.
Teresa Jack of Provo, who was watching the show from the field, said she saw a rocket fly over her head and land in the east grandstand of the stadium. The rocket exploded, sending up a huge cloud of smoke, like a bomb going off.
People in the crowd began waving to alert authorities that there were injuries and shouted “stop the show” at the speaker on stage, she said.
People were asked to remain in their seats, while the injured were told to report to a medical tent for treatment, Jack said. She said this well-organized response prevented a stampede.
Firefighters and paramedics were on scene when the show started and were able to reach injured spectators within a minute, said Jeanie Atherton, spokeswoman for Provo Fire and Rescue.
She said her department transported only one person to the hospital, but other victims may have arrived using their own transportation.
The event, where the Jonas Brothersresumed with permission from the Provo fire chief after the fireworks were inspected following the accident, said Karen Ellingsworth, spokeswoman for the BYU police.
The fireworks that malfunctioned in the stadium were relatively small compared to the large pyrotechnics used during the show’s finale, Cook said. Those larger fireworks are stored outside the stadium, he said.
Jack, who went to the festival to see the Jonas Brothers, said she and her friends nearly left during the finale, partly because of the earlier outage, but stayed because the show was great. But she said she was just as impressed with the drones as she was with the traditional fireworks in the show, making her wonder if that would be a better way to celebrate Independence Day.
“It may be time to reevaluate this tradition,” she said.