This wasn’t a cause for celebration.
Massachusetts firefighters were left scrambling this weekend when an inadvertent fireworks display erupted over a massive, propane-fueled blaze that destroyed two suburban homes and damaged a third.
Crews in Spencer, Mass., were already battling arctic 20-degree temperatures, dangerously icy conditions and a brutal inferno that exploded on East Avenue at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, CBS News said.
But the mammoth blaze — which was fed by propane tanks stored in the basement of one of the homes destroyed — wasn’t the only problem.
At one point, the flames reached an assortment of fireworks stored in the home — sending a grandiose spectacle leaping in all directions across the skies of the tiny town about a half-hour west of Worcester.
Video taken by a neighbor and published by CBS showed the fireworks streaming skyward, then bursting as shocked onlookers yelled in surprise.
“The main house, we didn’t even do anything with initially,” Spencer Fire Chief Robert Parsons told WCVB in Massachusetts. “It was well-involved when we pulled up.”
The home was empty when the fire started, officials said.
“Very quickly, this home had collapsed upon itself,” Parsons said. “This was an old home. It had a fire here about 30 years ago, so there was an old section and a new section to the home. We believe it started in the old section.”
Later on, the local fire department said in a Facebook post that “two of our families from town lost everything tonight and a third had damage to their home.”
“It’s devastating before Christmas,” said Justin Peck, who lived in the second home. “It just feels like everything’s falling apart.”
Two firefighters even fell through the ice of a nearby pond as they tried to pull water from its depths, since there are no fire hydrants in the area, officials said.
Despite the catastrophic property damage, no one was hurt by the flames, the icy conditions or the impromptu Independence Day display.
Local authorities and the state fire marshal are still trying to nail down what caused the blaze.
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