The annual Dover Fourth of July fireworks celebration was cut short on Sunday evening, when a display put on by the Atlas Pyrovision Entertainment Group of Jaffrey malfunctioned, causing an explosion.
No one was injured, according to a statement released by the town of Dover following the event.
“The success of a failure in the world of fireworks is when no one is injured,” Atlas Vice President Matt Shea said in an interview with the Ledger-Transcript on Tuesday. “Atlas and the industry has worked very hard for the past 25 years to bring the numbers of injuries of technicians and spectators down close to zero.”
The display, which is launched from Garrison Hill in Dover, had been going on for about 15 minutes of the 20 minute show when one of the six-inch shells failed to completely launch and fell back to the ground, landing on a trailer.
Shea said Atlas uses an electrical firing system that allows its technical crews to be a safe distance from the fireworks launching, and its crew is trained to immediately vacate the surrounding area in the case of a misfire or other issue, which is what happened in Dover.
“There is an element of danger involved in fireworks,” Shea said. “Fireworks are incredibly predictable compared to 20 years ago, but they’re not perfect.”
Shea said Atlas is investigating what happened in the Dover misfire, but said they haven’t discovered what caused the incident, and may not be able to determine the cause.
The display was immediately halted for the safety of the fireworks crew. The firework racks remaining on the ground were extinguished by the Dover Fire and Rescue, who were already on scene as a precautionary measure.
Dover Police responded to the explosion, and the state Fire Marshal’s Office was notified.
The town reopened Garrison Hill Park on Monday morning at about 11:30 a.m.