KILGORE, Texas - Authorities were searching today for threefireworks company employees missing after a series of explosionsdestroyed half of their warehouse, injuring several people andshattering nearby property.
It was the second deadly fireworks blast in as many days.Investigators in Bonita Springs, Fla., were gingerly picking throughrubble in search of evidence of what caused a Wednesday blast thatkilled five people as they unloaded an Independence Day display froma truck.
The Texas blasts at Lamb Entertainment's large metal warehouseThursday evening knocked fireworks and other debris several blocksaway.
Flames from the explosions burned pickup trucks; the cab of anearby tractor-trailer rig was gutted.
Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano said five homes in theneighborhood east of the warehouse were damaged or destroyed, withtheir occupants evacuated to an area hotel.
"The scene is pretty devastating," he said.
Thousands of pounds of fireworks inside the warehouse and packedin the tractor-trailer rig exploded, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms and Explosives said. Employees were preparing 12 commercialfireworks shows scheduled for today, including one in Kilgore, whenthe blasts began at about 5 p.m.
Firefighters were still battling the ensuing blaze late Thursdaynight, but officials believed the fireworks had been contained.
The missing workers, two men and a woman, were inside the buildingwhen the first blast occurred, Mayor Joe T. Parker said. He saidthree or four women working at Lamb Entertainment's offices sufferedminor injuries. One was taken to a hospital, he said, but none ofthose injuries were believed to be life-threatening.
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