7 Bodies Found at Site of California Fireworks Warehouse Explosion
The explosion on Tuesday, in a Yolo County farming community about 30 miles northwest of Sacramento, injured two people and started a 78-acre wildfire that prompted evacuation orders. Seven other people were reported missing, officials said.
Lt. Don Harman of the Yolo County Sheriff's Office said on Saturday that the bodies of seven people had been recovered at the site. The coroner's office will use rapid DNA testing to identify them, he said in a phone interview.
Investigators will keep searching on Sunday to make sure there are no other victims, Lieutenant Harman said, adding that a criminal investigation was continuing.
Families of the missing have been on edge since Tuesday. Three of the seven missing people are brothers who worked at the warehouse, Angel Barajas, a Yolo County supervisor who represents the district where the explosion occurred, told The New York Times this week.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is leading the investigation into the explosion, the cause of which remains unclear. The agency has said that such accidents are very rare, and that it believes the warehouse was owned by an active pyrotechnic license holder. It has not named the company.
The warehouse was operated by a company named Devastating Pyrotechnics. The company says it 'has produced displays in the San Francisco Bay Area and other California venues for over 30 years,' according to an archived version of its website. Devastating Pyrotechnics said in a statement on its website that it would cooperate with the authorities.
Douglas Horngrad, a lawyer whose contact information is listed on Devastating Pyrotechnics' website, said on Sunday that he represented Kenny Chee, whom several media outlets have named as the chief executive of the company.
'Mr. Chee is innocent of any wrongdoing,' Mr. Horngrad said via email, and said he would have no further comment until the investigation was concluded.
San Jose, Northern California's most populous city, was among several cities and counties that canceled or postponed Fourth of July fireworks shows after losing their pyrotechnics in the explosion. Others included Yuba County and the cities of Cloverdale and St. Helena.
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