• Computer glitch blamed in San Diego fireworks boom that went bust

    A technical glitch caused all of the fireworks to go off in one big 15-second bang in Sand Diego, igniting outrage after spectators were told to go home.

    By Lauren Steussy, NBCSanDiego.com

    A computer glitch apparently caused the fireworks mishap that disappointed thousands of people who camped out to watch the Big Bay Boom in San Diego's Glorietta Bay Wednesday night, when they got more of a Big Bay Bust.

    Hours after the fireworks malfunction, August Santore, co-owner of Garden State Fireworks, told San Diego morning television stations, “We apologize to all the residents and all the people who missed their fireworks.”

    About 5 minutes before the show was supposed to start, a sudden burst of fireworks shot into the air near the bay. Throughout downtown San Diego, a large rumble could be felt just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday night.

    It appeared that hundreds of fireworks were set off at the same time. The explosions lasted a few seconds.

    At about 9:20 p.m., people waiting for the display were told to return home. The fireworks show was canceled, a radio announcement said.

    See the original report at NBCSanDiego.com

    Port District authorities said a "technical difficulty" resulted in all the fireworks going off within 15 seconds, just minutes before the show was scheduled to begin.


    "We sincerely apologize for the technical glitch that affected the #BigBayBoom. Event producers are currently investigating the cause," read a Tweet from the Port of San Diego.

    Watch RAW video of the Big Bay Boom here.

    Santore said the problem was not a malfunction of the pyrotechnics and it was not human error. 

    The crew was up all night testing and retesting to find out what happened, he said, and they are "pretty confident" there was some sort of glitch in a computer program that was downloaded into all five systems coordinating the fireworks at all five stations.

    The company has backup plans if the display doesn’t ignite but there is no backup plan if the fireworks ignite prematurely, Santore said.

    The show took several months of planning.

    "No one feels worse than us,” Santore said. “We don’t look for anyone’s sympathy, we accept 100% responsibility.”

    "We were hired to perform and do a contract and there is no excuse," he said. "We will get to the bottom of it. It’s not something we take lightly."

    Santore has offered to do a makeup fireworks display at no cost to the Big Bay Boom Committee, which produces the event.

    Santore told NBCSanDiego.com that Big Bay Boom thanked Garden State for its generosity, but no plans were in place. Santore said his company may end up producing the Independence Day show next year for free.

    Here's a collection of responses from social media users who witnessed the seemingly botched display: 

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  • 'Orange mushroom cloud': Fireworks explosion injures 9 at New Hampshire home

    WHDH-TV -
    By NBC station WHDH

    PELHAM, N.H. -- Nine people, including two children, were injured when fireworks exploded at a home on Tuesday evening.

    Neighbors say they heard an explosion and saw a fireball light the night sky.

    "I just heard an explosion. It sounded like fireworks -- a big supply of them blew up," said Peter Catanzano, a neighbor.

    "It was a big, orange mushroom cloud. That's what it looked like," said Taylor Jackson, a neighbor.

    NYT: Fire fears curb some 4th of July displays


    'Stretchers on the front lawn'
    Medical crews rushed to the scene and helicopters took the most severely injured, including two young children, to the hospital.

    "There were so many ambulances and fire trucks and cop cars everywhere, people running around,” Jackson said. “There were stretchers on the front lawn for people that got hurt."

    Read more news stories from NBC station WHDH

    Neighbors say the Dodge Road fireworks display is an annual tradition, but for some the fireworks, usually kept under the deck, ignited.

    "Somehow this whole bunch of fireworks exploded and the porch is gone, and a portion of the side of the house," said Barbara Catanzano, a neighbor.

    Among those rushed to the hospital was one of the homeowner’s adult children, a firefighter.

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  • Independence Day irony: PTSD has many vets dreading, avoiding fireworks

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    Explosive bursts somewhere in the night – somewhere close – send Marine veteran Pete Chinnici lunging to his feet and scurrying outside, heart racing, chest heaving. His instinctive mission: track, identify and “eliminate the threat.”


    To Chinnici, 26, who served two tours in Iraq and has since dealt with a mild case of post-traumatic stress disorder, the loud, staccato pops can sound much like a machine gun.

    “I instantly want to know," he said, "where the sound is coming from so I can understand what I’m up against.”

    Throughout that brief, chilling moment, Chinnici knows intellectually that he’s prowling his own yard in Phoenix. Emotionally and instinctively, however, he’s been momentarily yanked backward in time to an unfriendly, unpredictable, violent land. The trigger: kids playing with firecrackers.

    As the nation’s birthday looms – and, most definitely, on July 4 – an unknown number of combat veterans, including active and retired soldiers diagnosed PTSD or not, will cringe, flinch and feel anxious as the crackle of fireworks sporadically fills their American neighborhoods, towns and cities. The annual celebration of freedom has, for many warriors, become one of the worst days of the year.

    Unlike some of his veteran friends who must avoid public fireworks shows, Chinnici can handle those spectacles, with a little mental effort, he said. It’s the random, neighborhood bottle-rocket bangs and M-80 claps that cause him to rise to his feet in full battle mode.

    “Even though you’re aware that it may not be anything dangerous, probably just fireworks, your body still goes through the response,” said Chinnici, whose Iraqi deployments came during parts of 2005, 2006 and 2007.

    PTSD can carry an array of chronic, otherwise-invisible symptoms that flare momentarily or take root for a time: nervousness, hyper-emotionality, an inability to sleep, and an overreaction to seemingly humdrum, daily moments. These feelings are unleashed from deep in the memory, hardwired back to real, horrible events that occurred just once or many times during battle such as IED detonations, mortar bursts and gunfire. Visual or auditory reminders – or both – commonly set off such symptoms for veterans, said Dr. John Hart, medical science director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas.

    Slideshow: Celebrating Old Glory

    Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images

    From sea to shining sea, Americans have many different ways of showing they're true to the red, white and blue. Celebrate the Fourth with this star-spangled gallery of patriotic images.

    Launch slideshow

    “Fireworks hit right in the heart of these causes. Here’s an explosive-looking thing and a loud noise,” said Hart, who researches the neurological components of the disorder and works with veterans whose PTSD “arousal triggers” include abrupt noises.

    “What they’ll feel when they hear or see fireworks is mostly fear, a sense of threat as they did during combat when the IED went off or when the Humvee blew up,” Hart said.

    Related: Thousands of veterans failing in latest battlefield -- college

    Many psychologists who help servicemen and women wrestling with PTSD encourage them to head to quiet places on July 4, far from fireworks displays, or to don headphones and listen to music.

    But even veterans or active-duty personnel who have not been diagnosed with PTSD can – and will – feel antsy when the rockets red glare burst in midair.

    “Firework agitation is a common reaction for those of us who've survived mortar attacks, bombings, and explosions,” said Julie Weckerlein, 31, who five years ago served as a military combat correspondent for the U.S. Air Force in both Iraq and Afghanistan. She has not been diagnosed with PTSD.

    “It wasn't until I started talking with other veterans about it that I realized that many others feel the same way I do. It's changed the way my family celebrates the July 4th holiday together, which isn't necessarily a bad thing," she added. "Instead of setting off explosives or watching others do so, we find other ways – calmer, quieter ways – to celebrate our freedoms, because the holiday and this country is worthy of the celebration.”

    For Chinnici, however, he plans to be sitting beneath a colorful, crashing fireworks display in Phoenix on July 4, watching with his kids.

    Dealing mentally with flash-and-boom extravaganza, he said, requires “a combination of trying to combat it from the perspective that I have my children there and I don’t want them to see this PTSD-symptom scenario unfolding and, at the same time, trying to go there so that I’m fully aware of what’s going on – so that I almost predict each pop.”

    Still, he expects to shudder a bit during one showy explosive that is a favorite for most of the rest of the crowd.

    “The only ones that really bother me are those that veer off slightly – the whistling ones,” Chinnici said. “Even though you’re cognitively aware of what’s going on, you still look around, waiting for something to land.”

    Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of “The Third Miracle.” 

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  • Cities struggle to keep Memorial Day, Fourth of July celebrations alive

    Kiichiro Sato / AP

    Fireworks explode over Lake Michigan Sunday, July 4, 2010, in Chicago.

    By Jim Gold, NBC News

    Summer holidays may be a little quieter this year in some cash-strapped American cities, but others are taking steps to make sure fallen soldiers are remembered on Memorial Day and the nation's birth is celebrated with a bang on the Fourth of July.


    New Rochelle, N.Y., last week announced it was canceling Independence Day fireworks costing it $75,000 and axing budgets for Memorial Day and Thanksgiving parades, which cost $30,000 each to put on, NBCNewYork.com reported. Private donors stepped up to keep the parades afloat, officials said. They are not so sure they can raise enough money in time to light up the skies July Fourth.

    The city was one of several that announced fireworks cancellations recently. 

    Public donations and corporate sponsorships pay for the fireworks in about 75 percent of the nation’s approximately 14,000 municipal displays during the week of Independence Day, Philip Butler, spokesman for Fireworks by Grucci, told msnbc.com. City and town governments -- taxpayers -- mainly pay for the events’ police and fire protection, he said. That's a change from the 1980s and '90s, he said, when more than 70 percent of the pyrotechnics were paid with government funds.

    Grucci, which will put on 84 shows ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 each the week of July 4, was scheduled to put on the New Rochelle show, Butler said. Grucci will hold the town's reservation until June 1.

    “It’s prevalent all across the country,” Butler said. “It’s a sin politicians pull budgets for entertainment -- and not just fireworks but events like summer concerts, too."

    New Rochelle's financial problems mirror other cities' woes. Pension and health insurance costs rose while revenue from sales and property taxes dropped, officials said.

    Gregory Minchak, National League of Cities spokesman, told msnbc.com that city budgets across the country are still being cut, although the pace has slowed.

    City finances, largely driven by property taxes, lag even if the economy starts to improve, Minchak said. Property tax revenues fell when housing values dropped, he said, but it takes a while for higher assessments to kick in when values start to rise again.

    “Any time you have high unemployment – the national rate was 8.1 percent in April – that also affects city finances,” Minchak said. Local governments lay off workers and people spend less in their communities, driving down sales-tax revenues.

    But city finances won't keep bombs from bursting in the air everywhere.

    "Communities will rally around their fireworks displays," said Stephen Vitale, president of New Castle, Penn.-based Pyrotecnico, which is putting on more than 650 Fourth of July fireworks displays. Vitale said the pyrotechnic industry is largely recession-proof.

    Some communities save money by setting off fireworks on July 3 or on the weekends before or after the Fourth, lessening police and firefighter overtime pay, Vitale said. Overtime often is double regular pay on a holiday but only time-and-a-half other days.

    Todd Reichenbach, of Billings, Mont.-based Pyro F/X, told msnbc.com his company will put on seven municipal shows ranging from $15,000 to $40,000.

    “We had to say no to four towns,” Reichenbach said.

    “Montana is a bit more isolated,” he said of the state’s economy. “When the rest of the country is doing good, we’re not as good; when the rest of the country is hurting, we’re not as bad,” he said.

    Here's a sampling of communities' approaches to celebrations for Memorial Day, considered the summer kickoff, and Independence Day:

    • Batavia, Ill., has put on a fireworks show annually for 60 years and never spent taxpayer dollars on buying the fireworks, Mayor Jeff Schielke told msnbc.com. The Chicago suburb of 26,000 gets behind two annual fund-raisers, he said. One pits a team of police and firefighters against a team of teachers in a basketball game; the other is a citywide garage sale, which last week included 200 homes with owners paying $25 each to host shoppers from throughout the region. This year's fireworks display will cost $35,000 to $40,000, Schielke said.
    • Hanford, Calif., will be one of three San Joaquin Valley cities each getting a $10,000 grant in to feature a laser light show that is less polluting than fireworks, Mike Bertaina, president of the Hanford of Chamber of Commerce, told msnbc.com. The other cities in a pilot program that covers about half a laser show's cost will be decided soon, said Jaime Holt, spokeswoman for the valley's Air Pollution Control District. District governors decided to try the substitution to ease ozone pollution, usually a winter problem, seen with a spike in particulate matter after July Fourth fireworks, Holt told msnbc.com. "Fireworks have metals and other toxic materials contributing to ozone through combustion that puts toxic material into the environment," Holt said.
    • San Ramon, Calif., wants to get the word out that out-of-town fireworks fans should go elsewhere July 4 since the city cut its annual show, a tradition since 1985, the San Ramon Express News reported. The San Francisco suburb plans to end its Fourth of July festivities by 6 p.m. so its own resident revelers have time to go to other Bay Area communities where fireworks shows survive. The Express News said the city would have spent $318,000 if it put on a fireworks event this year, up from $175,000 in 2011. This year's scaled-back July 4 celebratiion, aimed only at city residents and featuring a symphony concert, a funk-and-soul band and an armed forces salute, will cost only $41,580, the Express News said.
    • Chicago in 2010 ended a three-decade tradition of July 3 fireworks linked to the 10-day Taste of Chicago festival at Grant Park, city officials said. The only official July 4 fireworks continue at Navy Pier, run by a civic organization. To save money, the Taste of Chicago this year will be scaled back to five days and not start until July 11, officials said.
    • North Providence, R.I., will bring back Independence Day fireworks for the first time in four years and enhance its Memorial Day parade after an April fund-raising dance raised more money, over $10,000, than expected, the weekly Valley Breeze reported. Severe budget cuts had killed July Fourth fireworks, the newspaper said.
    • Sea Bright, N.J., last week canceled oceanfront July Fourth fireworks because the 11-person Police Department could not find 10 to 15 officers from other communities to work that day despite offering $72 per hour to patrol an expected crowd of 35,000 visitors, The Hub newspaper reported. Neighboring Red Bank, citing increasing security costs, canceled its 50-year-old KaBoom festival, planned July 3. Town officials said the event was a victim of its own success, bringing 100,000 visitors to town in 2011.
    • Woodstown, N.J., will bring back Fourth of July fireworks, thanks to the sponsorship of the Woodstown-Pilesgove Business Association, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.
    • Marion, Mass., selectmen canceled their fireworks show because of a lack of fund-raising since last year’s event but hope to bring back pyrotechnics next year, the SippicanVillageSoup weekly newspaper reported.

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