By Andrew Blankstein, Eric Leonard, and Phil Helsel - NBC News
At least 17 people, including police officers, were injured when a large explosion rocked a Los Angeles, California neighborhood on Wednesday night as thousands of pounds of illegal fireworks were seized, according to authorities.
None of the victims had life-threatening injuries, police said.
The explosion occurred around 7:30 pm when those responsible were detonating some of the explosives in a vehicle with a containment container designed to hold explosives.
"This container should have been able to safely dispose of that material," Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Wednesday night.
"And you saw the resulting damage, and the total catastrophic failure of that containment vehicle," Moore said.
The explosion
destroyed the vehicle, overturned a nearby car, and smashed windows in homes and businesses.
Three people in the area suffered moderate injuries and three others suffered minor injuries, according to authorities.
Nine
Los Angeles
police officers
and
a federal agent
from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
also suffered minor injuries.
Another person was treated at the scene, but was not taken to the hospital.
According to police, about 5,000 pounds of fireworks and explosives were found Wednesday morning in a home in the historic South-Central neighborhood.
A 27-year-old man who has been detained is charged with bringing in the explosives from out of state for resale over the weekend of July 4.
He is facing one charge of possession of a destructive device.
He may face additional charges for endangering the children because his 10-year-old brother lives in the home, Moore said.
The pyrotechnic products were commercial grade, but some were described as improvised explosive devices with simple fuses that were considered more unstable, Moore added.
These were X-rayed and cut by robots to evaluate them, Moore said, and less than 10 pounds were detonated inside the bomb squad's containment vessel, which is rated to hold more material than that.
"Something happened in that containment vehicle that shouldn't have happened, and we don't know why," Moore said.
"But we intend to find out why."
Authorities said it was fortunate that there were no deaths and used the incident to highlight the danger of illegal fireworks, especially when people who intend to sell them store the explosives in residential neighborhoods.
ATF will also investigate how the fireworks and explosives were acquired and transported to Los Angeles, as well as the circumstances of the explosion, the police chief said.
In March, a huge fireworks explosion at a home in Ontario, a city about 40 miles (about 65 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, killed two people.
Authorities said at the time that the explosion caused at least $ 3.2 million in damage.
Wednesday's explosion in Los Angeles comes days before the July 4 weekend.
In July 2020, Los Angeles police reported an increase of more than 80% in calls about illegal fireworks over the previous year and the amount seized by police more than doubled, the department said at the time.
This year, authorities have promised to crack down on illegal fireworks.
Los Angeles, like most of California, suffers from extreme drought, according to observers.
Last week, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said his office had sent cease and desist letters to Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and others for the online sales.
Police in South Gate, a city in the Los Angeles region, said last week they detained a man with 800 pounds of illegal fireworks and found 1,200 more in a rental truck.
