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PITTSBURG —
Tuesday, the night seemed to come early for the owners of Jake’s Fireworks, as several shipping containers caught fire and turned the day to night a little early. But with the morning comes a new day and a little perspective on what took place the night before.
“I don’t want to say it was much ado about nothing, but it wasn’t quite as big an ordeal as we thought,” said Jason Marietta, Jake’s Fireworks retail sales director.
When the smoke cleared, six shipping containers had been destroyed by fire. A few other containers were damaged in the process of fighting the fire.
In some ways, Marietta said the shipping containers did their jobs by containing the fire. He said that fire crews did a tremendous job in keeping the fire from spreading, as a nearby warehouse just 15-20 feet away was not caught up in the blaze.
“We were very, very lucky,” Marietta said. “There were no injuries. Luckily, of the trailers, two were just cardboard boxes. the fire went on longer in those because the fire keeps going for a while with cardboard. Once fireworks go off, they’re done.”
Marietta said that Jake’s did not lose much product in the blaze, and that the move to the former Superior Industries building will be important for just such an occasion.
“They’re going to be so much better equipped to fight something like this out there than here,” Marietta said. “There was no water here. In the new location, we’ll have sprinklers, fire curtains, plenty of water, and a response time within two to three minutes. It’s never going to be a problem.”
After the arrival of fire marshals on Wednesday morning, both Jake’s and the fire marshal were hoping for an answer about what the cause of the fire was. Marietta said that even after the visit, there is still no definite answer.
“We’ve never had an accident like this at any of our warehouses. Never anything like this. We’re very lucky it was contained to what it was,” Marietta said. “We don’t know why it happened and [the fire marshals] don’t know. In some ways, I wish we did know, so we could say what it was and address it.”
He said that wet, damaged fireworks somehow got ignited, but whow that happened is anyone’s guess. Fortunately, these are just Class C fireworks. In extreme layman’s terms, these are fireworks that whirr, buzz and pop, but don’t go boom.
Tuesday, the night seemed to come early for the owners of Jake’s Fireworks, as several shipping containers caught fire and turned the day to night a little early. But with the morning comes a new day and a little perspective on what took place the night before.
“I don’t want to say it was much ado about nothing, but it wasn’t quite as big an ordeal as we thought,” said Jason Marietta, Jake’s Fireworks retail sales director.
When the smoke cleared, six shipping containers had been destroyed by fire. A few other containers were damaged in the process of fighting the fire.
In some ways, Marietta said the shipping containers did their jobs by containing the fire. He said that fire crews did a tremendous job in keeping the fire from spreading, as a nearby warehouse just 15-20 feet away was not caught up in the blaze.
“We were very, very lucky,” Marietta said. “There were no injuries. Luckily, of the trailers, two were just cardboard boxes. the fire went on longer in those because the fire keeps going for a while with cardboard. Once fireworks go off, they’re done.”
Marietta said that Jake’s did not lose much product in the blaze, and that the move to the former Superior Industries building will be important for just such an occasion.
“They’re going to be so much better equipped to fight something like this out there than here,” Marietta said. “There was no water here. In the new location, we’ll have sprinklers, fire curtains, plenty of water, and a response time within two to three minutes. It’s never going to be a problem.”
After the arrival of fire marshals on Wednesday morning, both Jake’s and the fire marshal were hoping for an answer about what the cause of the fire was. Marietta said that even after the visit, there is still no definite answer.
“We’ve never had an accident like this at any of our warehouses. Never anything like this. We’re very lucky it was contained to what it was,” Marietta said. “We don’t know why it happened and [the fire marshals] don’t know. In some ways, I wish we did know, so we could say what it was and address it.”
He said that wet, damaged fireworks somehow got ignited, but whow that happened is anyone’s guess. Fortunately, these are just Class C fireworks. In extreme layman’s terms, these are fireworks that whirr, buzz and pop, but don’t go boom.
But Tuesday’s fire will not change Jake’s plans. Ultimately, it was an unfortunate event.
“In one sense, it was terrible timing with the deal with Superior. In another sense, it echoes what we’ve said, that these are very safe commodities. It’s very heavily regulated and being stored in the right way. When you do that, they’re safe products,” Marietta said. “We’ll keep doing what we’re doing. We always have to have respect for what we are dealing with. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll be fine.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.
