Families await answers, firefighters face hazards at CA fireworks blast site

Miami Herald

3 days ago

Tears streaked the faces of Jhony Ramos Sr. and Mercedes Lemos soon after arriving Thursday afternoon outside of the evacuation zone perimeter butting against Esparto.
About a mile south — at a rural corner lot since flattened by Tuesday's calamitous explosions at a fireworks storage facility — laid the place where their missing sons and grandsons, respectively, were last known to be.
'There is nothing,' Lemos told reporters in Spanish when asked what the family had been told by authorities. 'And why? We are all human. They are indifferent. And how can they be? ... We all eat, we all feel and we all need.'
Seven people remain 'unaccounted for' after the blast obliterated the facility along with nearby homes and outbuildings.
Meanwhile, a national Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms response team was called to Esparto. The specialized team assembles for major fire and explosives investigations, like the Esparto blaze dubbed the Oakdale Fire, for a nearby road where pyrotechnics were hurled after Tuesday's first blast.
The team is made up of ATF special agents, fire investigators and forensic chemists; fire protection and electrical engineers; explosives specialists, intelligence researchers and accelerant-detecting dog teams.
National Response Teams have responded to some of the most notable disasters in recent U.S. history, including the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the September 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center.
The rapid response team will assist investigators who have been poring over the explosion site since Tuesday night, Cal Fire officials said in a Wednesday evening update as the search for answers into the blast continues now into a third day in still-unstable conditions.
Pyrotechnics company issues statement
In a statement, officials at Devastating Pyrotechnics, whose facilities were destroyed in the explosion, offered thoughts to the families of those believed lost in the blast and gratitude to first responders who rushed to the scene.
'Our hearts and thoughts are with those we lost, their families, and everyone impacted in our community,' the statement read. 'We are grateful for the swift response of law enforcement and emergency personnel. Our focus will remain on those directly impacted by this tragedy, and we will cooperate fully with the proper authorities in their investigation.'
The company's attorney, Douglas Horngrad, offered little else, saying that 'while we understand the public's need for more information about the warehouse facility in Esparto, we cannot provide any further comment at this time.'
No other officials from the San Francisco-based company have discussed the incident with The Sacramento Bee or responded to repeated inquiries about the inferno.
The pain in this rural community in far western Yolo County, about 30 miles west of Sacramento, has intensified as the names and the stories of the missing remain known.
But family members have said that among them are Jesus and Jhonny Ramos Jr., 18 and 22 years old, respectively. Their brother Joel 'Junior' Melendez also remains missing.
Ramos Sr., who traveled with family from Los Angeles after learning of the explosions, told reporters Thursday that authorities had not given the family more information about their missing relatives. Syanna Ruiz, the 18-year-old girlfriend of Jesus Ramos, had also spoken out on the lack of information about the missing at the end of a news conference Wednesday.
'They were, all three, incredible men who had so much coming for them, that had so much coming their way,' Ruiz told The Bee on Wednesday. 'I'm just praying to God that some way, somehow, they're okay.'
The family was told by authorities they would hear an update by Saturday.
Esparto Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence at a Wednesday news conference said crews could not go onto the site due to the dangers that remained. Recovering the bodies of the blast victims was a 'big concern,' Lawrence said when Ruiz asked what fire crews were doing on that front.
Melendez is the father of an 11-month-old son. His wife, Maria, is expecting their second child, her cousin, Marilly Kepoo-Galicia, said in a GoFundMe appeal for the family.
'This tragic accident has taken so much from so many, and for Maria, it's shattered her entire world,' Kepoo-Galicia wrote. 'What should be a joyful and hopeful time has instead become filled with fear, uncertainty, and heartbreak.'
Recovery effort beginning amid danger
Authorities on Thursday said the priority for Esparto and local fire crews was to gain access to the ruined facility so authorities can begin to recover those lost in the disaster and 'bolster investigative efforts for the explosion investigation.'
The pyrotechnics explosions at the fireworks warehouse in the 26400 block of County Road 23 near County Road 86A, about a mile south of Highway 16, was said to have ignited numbers of spot fires in the area. Cal Fire said the Oakdale Fire blackened 78 acres before crews halted forward progress Tuesday night.
Mathew Davis, a spokesperson for the Yolo County Sheriff's Office, addressed the missing individuals' families at the news conference, acknowledging their concerns but saying personnel cannot move forward with the recovery effort until the scene is safe.
'It's important that we operate safely, carefully and securely and in a dignified manner that respects all involved,' Davis said. 'We cannot move forward and risk any more injury to anyone else on this scene.'
Lawrence, the town's fire chief, said firefighters had begun 'targeted fire suppression efforts' to mitigate the risks of recovery and said the area was 'a little bit' safer for responders.
The identities of four others who remained missing were unknown and officials at Thursday's news conference refused to answer any questions from reporters or the relatives among the scrum.
While Lawrence could not confirm the number of individuals that were forced to evacuate, he said more than 150 PG&E customers were affected by power outages relating to the incident. By Thursday afternoon, 89 customers in the area were without power controlled by a substation on the 18500 block of County Road 89, roughly two miles east of the fire, according to data collected by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
Yolo County District 5 Supervisor Angel Barajas said on Thursday that the board, along with various agencies, were investigating the incident to see whether proper procedures were followed. Barajas said if protocols were violated, the board would 'revise and modify' them to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
'We have trust in our partners and our agencies that the investigation is going to be transparent,' Barajas said at Thursday's press conference. 'We want to make sure that it becomes a quick and a timely investigation, but we're going to leave the subject-matter experts to perform those duties.'
Officials offer support for those affected
Barajas said the county has provided the families of those unaccounted for with food and hotel vouchers as well as counseling services.
'First and foremost, our priority is the families making sure that they're comfortable during this investigation and this recovery procedure,' Barajas said.
For frustrated loved ones of the missing and authorities alike, questions remain.
What triggered the blast?
Were additional materials beside fireworks stored at the site?
Did more than one company store its pyrotechnics there?
People near the facility when the explosions took place just about 6 p.m. described a sequence of blasts that rattled buildings and homes in nearby Esparto and was felt by some in Woodland, about 14 miles away. The large blasts, followed by a series of fireworks rattling off from the burning facility, sparked multiple grass fires that firefighters controlled soon after the explosions.
'There are thousands of questions,' Lemos said. 'There are no answers.'
Explosions at pyrotechnics facilities are extremely rare, Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, an industry group, told The Sacramento Bee this week. Human interaction is almost always the culprit, she said, triggering catastrophe.
Storage facilities like the doomed Esparto site must be licensed by both state fire authorities and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said Heckman, a member of Cal Fire's fireworks advisory committee, and must be specially built with materials that do not create sparks or static electricity.
Fireworks for Friday's Independence Day festivities from Marysville to Placerville and the north Bay Area were stored at the Yolo County facility, the blast forcing organizers to reschedule, postpone or cancel their events.