Six people were injured Friday after a large-scale private fireworks show exploded in a St. Francois County park. The explosion happened Friday night at Leadwood City Park. Leadwood Fire Chief Charlie Lewis tells First Alert 4 that six people were injured. Five of the injuries were minor injuries with burns. The sixth injury was an elderly woman who fell and hit her head on concrete. She is in critical condition at a St. Louis area hospital.
Leadwood Fire Protection District had nine firefighters respond to the incident. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation. On Saturday, the Leadwood Fire Protection District said during an inspection of the scene, a live mortar-style firework was found in the park. As a member of the crew went to get a cone to mark it, two male teens were seen in the area.
The fire protection district said that after the teens left the area, the mortar was discovered missing. โThese types of mortars are not safe to handle โ they are powerful enough to cause catastrophic injury, including the loss of fingers, hands, or worse,” the district warned in a Facebook post.
Firefighters ask that anyone who sees a suspicious object in Leadwood or the surrounding areas to not touch it and call 911 right away. โWe are sharing this information not to place blame, but to protect our community. A dangerous explosive is currently unaccounted for, and time is of the essence.โ Lewis said the mortar was still missing as of 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
