Tulsa fireworks explosion videos
Several videos of the mishap at Tulsa's July 4, 2009, fireworks show have been uploaded to YouTube; I've posted three of them after the jump. Here's KOTV's story on what happened:
"What happened was a mortar that went off - exploded either really close to its container, or inside its container, and caused a fire on the trailer, burning over into another trailer nearby," said Captain Michael Baker of the Tulsa Fire Department.The blaze melted the electronics needed to control the fireworks show. No one was injured as a result of the explosion.
An entire trailer devoted to the grand finale, filled with 1,000 shells, had to be dismantled.
(Here's a link to Irritated Tulsan's incisive analysis of the fiasco and his "mommy-blog quality" photos of the sunset earlier that evening.)
Click through to see those videos.
As seen from Standpipe Hill, north of downtown:
From the festival grounds on the west bank:
Another clip from the west bank:
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In my life, I've seen fireworks, especially in the hands of "private citizens," do harm completely out of proportion to any conceivable, imagined "good."
I've seen fireworks kill, maim, frighten and damage individuals and property. I've seen them end friendships and permanently destroy even the closest family relationships.
But what "good" did they do, now or ever? What constructive purpose did they serve?
This last weekend, my neighborhood in near east Moore was turned into a war zone, courtesy of the very altruistic fireworks lobby and our Ado-Annie state legislature. Typically, the next morning -- or whenever the gunpowder runs out -- the neighborhood dogs, scared nearly to death by what must seem to them an annual spate of sudden, violent and pandemic mental illness, seem to inevitably show up at my house. Then, I can spend my day calming them down, reading their tags, if they have tags, and getting them back to their owners.
It calls to mind the words of Solomon in Proverbs 12:10: The righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
But, hey -- how can we celebrate the birth of our nation without acting like completely irresponsible fools with no thoughtful, neighborly grace, no respect for the law and no common courtesy?
Exactly how can irresponsibility and meaningless endangerment be equated with "patriotism?"