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Faulty fireworks were made in China

Before the local failures on the Fourth, the maker had a solid record.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published July 7, 2007

China produces fireworks the way France makes Champagne: It has a virtual monopoly.

Nearly all fireworks used in the United States are made in China.

But a string of Fourth of July fiascoes in the Tampa Bay region and around the country involving Chinese-manufactured fireworks could raise new questions about their safety and quality.

Chinese-manufactured fireworks exploded on the ground during city-sponsored celebrations in St. Pete Beach and Treasure Island, injuring a dozen people.

Similar accidents involving Chinese fireworks that exploded prematurely wrecked six displays in northern Virginia, injuring 11 people. And two pyrotechnic workers were injured in Savannah, Ga., when a firework detonated on the ground and set off a chain reaction.

The defective fireworks used locally were made by a Chinese company called Lidu Fireworks, which the American Pyrotechnics Association says has a good reputation in the industry and is one of China's largest fireworks manufacturers.

"They're very, very reputable, " said Joseph Castonguay, the director of operations for Tampa-based Bell's Fireworks, which put on the St. Pete Beach and Treasure Island shows. "We've been using them for about 12 years now, and we've never had any problems with them."

Bell's used mostly Lidu-manufactured products in its July 4 shows, and they worked properly. But Castonguay said a specific component called the "peanut" that the company planned to use in the grand finales of both shows malfunctioned.

The "peanut" fireworks shell looks like the legume it is named after. The bottom container produces a loud noise and the top shell produces a red, white and blue explosion in the air.

But Castonguay said that in both local shows, the bottom section of the shell detonated while still on the ground, setting off a chain reaction that produced large explosions.

"We're definitely sorry that this had to happen, " Castonguay said. "It's out of our hands because we didn't know these were bad products."

The state fire marshal's office is investigating, along with local authorities.

Bell's has pulled all peanut shells from its stock and plans to destroy them after investigators examine them.

A Lidu Fireworks official stationed in the United States did not respond to several messages seeking comment. On its Web site, Lidu says it was founded in 1974 and has grown to include six factories and 1, 500 employees.

A standards group

China has long produced the bulk of America's fireworks. But after the number of unsafe products reached alarmingly high levels in the late 1980s and early 1990s, government pressure led industry groups to create the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, a nonprofit that oversees consumer fireworks, the kind used in backyard celebrations.

John Rogers, the laboratory's executive director, said the percentage of Chinese-manufactured fireworks that don't meet American compliance standards had fallen from perhaps 75 percent to 5 percent since the organization's founding.

Ninety-nine percent of consumer fireworks used in the United States are made in China, said Julie Heckman, the executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade group for the fireworks industry. About 75 percent of commercial fireworks, the types used for professional shows, are made in China.

"We have had such a phenomenal track record in the fireworks industry with Chinese products, " Heckman said.

Heckman said companies often go to Chinese factories to observe fireworks being tested. Castonguay said Bell's usually tests fireworks, but didn't test the peanuts because of Lidu's reputation.

The fireworks fiascoes follow recalls of Chinese-made products included in pet food that sickened dogs and cats, as well as warnings about toothpaste, toy trains and car tires made in China.

More than 60 percent of the recalls announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission this year and 24 toy recalls involved Chinese-made products.

Information from Times wires and the Washington Post was used in this report. Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8472.

[Last modified July 7, 2007, 00:37:03]