Today in fire history: explosion in New York Pyrotechnics Products Company kills two employees and injures 24 others

At approximately 11:13 a.m. on November 26, 1983, a series of explosions and subsequent fires occurred at the site of the New York Pyrotechnics Products Co. plant in the Town of Brookhaven New, York. Two employees working on the plant site at the time of the explosions were killed. In addition, 24 persons in areas surrounding the plant site were injured. The two critical factors in this incident were the combination of the lack of adequate building, trailer and vehicle separation coupled with their quantity loading which permitted the initial explosion/fire to initiate a series of explosions and fire which...