Three Idaho FFs Injured by Fireworks

July 4, 2010
Three Idaho firefighters were injured Saturday after a fireworks display exploded while being set up on a golf course.The most seriously injured Mountain Home firefighter suffered burns to his upper body when a shell detonated in his hand, according to the Mountain Home News.There was no word on his condition.The incident occurred as one of the firefighters prepared to place one of the firework shells in a launch tube on the northeast side of the golf course, police told the newspaper.

Three Idaho firefighters were injured Saturday after a fireworks display exploded while being set up on a golf course.


The most seriously injured Mountain Home firefighter suffered burns to his upper body when a shell detonated in his hand, according to the Mountain Home News.


There was no word on his condition.


The incident occurred as one of the firefighters prepared to place one of the firework shells in a launch tube on the northeast side of the golf course, police told the newspaper.


The two other firefighters also injured in the initial explosion were released after treatment at Elmore Medical Center.


The explosion caused the remaining fireworks to detonate, starting a fire that spread to a nearby ridge. City firefighters used a brush truck to quickly contained and extinguished the flames and contained the damage to an area around the blast site, the newspaper reported.


Initial reports at the scene indicate the blast and subsequent fire destroyed the city's scheduled $30,000 display.


Crews blocked off the area around the scene in case some of the remaining shells were intact.

The accident marked the first time the fire department ever had an accident of this type since moving the display from Eastside Park to the golf course in the mid-1990s, a police officer told the reporter.


A team of fire investigators from Boise were dispatched to determine what caused the explosion.

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