Fire on Atlantic City Fireworks Barge
A T L A N T I C C I T Y, N.J., July 5 -- A fire that broke out on a fireworksbarge, sending exploding shells raining into the ocean at the endof an Independence Day celebration, finally burned itself outtoday as authorities tried to determine what went wrong.
Seven people were rescued from the 300-foot barge Wednesdaynight by the Coast Guard, said police Sgt. Ken Brown. One personwas treated for a minor foot injury, but no serious injuries werereported.
The barge was one of two used in a 30-minute fireworks displaystaged by Bay Fireworks of Long Island, N.Y., for three AtlanticCity casinos.
"There was one section of the fireworks display that was like athousand shotgun blasts," said David Greenspun, 36, owner ofAtlantic City Miniature Golf on the boardwalk.
Fireworks Pouring into the Ocean
"It seemed that would have been the grand finale. In fact therewas a round of applause, at which point we started seeing morefireworks, but they were not taking off up into the sky. They werepouring down into the ocean," Greenspun said.
One barge was for the show's main portion and the other was fora four-minute grand finale. It wasn't immediately clear on whichbarge the blaze started. Both were less than a mile from shore.
A message left with Bay Fireworks early today was notimmediately returned. The company said earlier this week it plannedto shoot off more than 10,000 fireworks during the display.
"I didn't know what it was at first," said LisaMarie Martinez,26, who was watching the show Wednesday night. "I knewthe fireworks looked low, then all the sudden the fire started.I've never seen anything like that before."
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