LaFollette fireworks disaster killed four in 1997
A shipping container storing fireworks exploded in LaFollette in June 1997.
Watching fireworks light up the sky with dazzling colors and configurations is such a thrill, we often forget that making those shows happen requires literally playing with fire.
Here in East Tennessee, we’ve had our share of fireworks disasters.
The smallest mistake can set off a monster chain reaction. It’s the tragic side of a favorite pastime that’s claimed lives and livelihoods through the years.
Benton fireworks factory explodes
Windows shattered and photos fell from the walls in nearby houses when an explosion destroyed an illegal fireworks factory in Benton in 1983. The boom was heard as far away as Cleveland, about 15 miles away, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported May 27, 1983.
Eleven people died in the explosion.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve seen since Vietnam,” Polk County Sheriff Frank Payne said at the time. “What happened was like a direct hit by a 500-pound bomb.”
The operation fronted as Webb’s Bait Farm, but really, illegal M-100 and M-80 fireworks were being produced at the site, the News-Sentinel reported. A month later, federal investigators called it the largest illegal fireworks factory ever identified in the U.S.
Owner Dan Webb, whose mother, brother and uncle were among those killed in the explosion, was sentenced in 1984 to 10 years in prison for manufacturing explosives without a license.
Pyro Shows depot blast kills four
A shipping container full of fireworks exploded at a popular pyrotechnics company’s storage facility in LaFollette June 5, 1997.
“At first, I thought it was an airplane crash. It rumbled five or 10 seconds, and then there was a massive explosion,” Campbell County Sheriff Ron McClellan told the News-Sentinel afterward.
The disaster at the Pyro Shows depot damaged nearby homes and businesses, along with a church. Four people were killed, all employees: engaged high school sweethearts Tim Petree and Allison Hale; Gretchen Wells, who, along with Hale, had been on the job for less than a week; and Luther Seiber, Caryville vice mayor and city councilman.
They had been getting fireworks ready and loading them for use at the upcoming July 4 shows.
Federal agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ruled out negligence by Pyro Shows.
Through the years, Pyro Shows has had a hand in Boomsday – once a Knoxville Labor Day tradition – as well as fireworks at Smokies and University of Tennessee games.
Stowers Superstore goes up in flames
When a fire began at Stowers Superstore on July 6, 2014, fireworks began to shoot off from the site. Nearby Interstate 75 was closed in both directions as the explosives launched unpredictably.
Four or five people were in the Caryville store but managed to get out safely. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported on July 8 that “the building apparently was constructed before current fire codes required sprinkler systems.”
The store was a total loss, with crews delayed by Fourth of July traffic. Fireworks were already shooting off and the entire building was ablaze when the firefighters arrived. In total, 65 firefighters from Campbell, Scott and Anderson counties fought the fire for around three hours.
Although the store was destroyed, its “attractions,” including a rocket, Ferris wheel and castle, remained on the lot, still visible from the highway.
Hayden Dunbar Evans is the storyteller reporter. Email: hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com. Instagram: @knoxstoryteller.
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