GREENBANK, Wash. — A quiet afternoon on Whidbey Island turned into pure chaos Wednesday when a house packed with hundreds of pounds of fireworks erupted in a massive explosion, injuring three firefighters who had just arrived to battle a blaze.
Crews from Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue and South Whidbey Fire/EMS were called to Smuggler’s Cove Road in Greenbank around 2:45 p.m. for a reported house fire. Within minutes of pulling up, the home detonated like a bomb.
Shocking video footage shows the terrifying sequence: intense flames already ripping through the structure from a porch view, followed by a sudden, violent explosion that sends a massive plume of smoke, debris, and fireworks rocketing in every direction. Debris rains down as the blast rips through the property. Later aerial shots reveal utter devastation, the home reduced to a charred skeleton of rubble, with firefighters and investigators picking through the wreckage.
Two deputy chiefs and one firefighter were injured in the blast. Two were treated and released from the hospital. The third suffered a serious hand injury requiring surgery and remained hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as of Thursday.
Two civilians who lived in the home were also hurt but managed to drive themselves to the hospital.“We were extremely lucky,” Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue Chief Jerry Helm told reporters. “You change the timetable on this by a second or two either way, and the outcome would be very different.”
Helm said the firefighters were standing roughly 20 feet from the house when it blew. “Once the explosion happened and we heard and saw what was going on, fireworks were shooting across the road and hitting a couple of rigs. It was pretty obvious once the explosion happened what it was.”The cause? Investigators say the homeowner had stockpiled around 700 pounds of fireworks inside the house for an upcoming private event. He was smoking nearby when ash or a cigarette butt fell into the stash, igniting the deadly chain reaction.“They’re kind of a ticking time bomb,” Helm said bluntly.
The blast completely destroyed the original home and a neighboring house that caught fire. A third home was damaged. Fireworks and unexploded ordnance scattered across the scene forced the ATF bomb squad to respond.
The incident comes just days before the Fourth of July holiday, when fireworks-related calls typically spike across the country
.For the heroic first responders who walked into what should have been a routine house fire only to get caught in a fireworks war zone, it was a terrifying close call.“We’d probably have a couple more people at Harborview right now” if the timing had been any different, Helm added.
The investigation is ongoing.
