The Checotah Fire Department was dispatched to an explosion at the city barn on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 8:51 a.m. that sent one city worker to the hospital and two to emergency care to be checked out. The explosion occurred when a spark accidently landed in a paint bucket that had leftover dud fireworks from the Fourth of July festivities.
Councilman Mike Key stated that they could clearly see the spark on the surveillance camera and then they saw the explosion that left three city workers bolting from the scene.
“The boom was so loud it was deafening, but instincts told me to run and I ran out of the building, hitting my head on the bucket truck,” city worker Margaret Casey said. “Amazingly no one got burned, but I believe what really saved us was we had a bunch of white tables stacked up with cases of water and Gatorade stacked beside them. So it made a barrier between us and the explosion that bent and mangled the tables and busted a lot of the water bottles and Gatorade. It was definitely scary but thank God no one was seriously injured.”
As a precaution, Casey and her coworker James Curtis, were sent to the urgent care in town to be checked out while Andy Burnett was sent to the hospital in Muskogee but later released.
Mayor Daniel Tarkington commented about the incident: “The Maintenance Crew started working that morning on Christmas Lighting Decorations and while they were using a chop saw, one of the sparks landed in a used paint bucket with some leftover duds from the Fourth of July fireworks causing it to ignite. This resulted in one worker being sent to the emergency room in Muskogee and two others being sent to urgent care to get checked out. Margaret received a knot on top of her head. Andy was transported by ambulance and released that afternoon with ringing to the ears and sinus issues probably from the pressure of the explosion, and James Curtis had ringing of the ears and was shook up.
“Since the incident we had gone over proper procedure on handling all fireworks, from storage to proper disposal of the ones that do not go off. We usually store them in metal containers away from where we work and then all the old ones are soaked in a bucket of water for 24 hours before being disposed of.
“I don’t believe the crew did anything wrong. It was just an unforeseen accident from something being overlooked after working several hours on the Fourth of July and the week leading up to the Freedom Celebration. I believe the bucket more than likely got pushed under the table back in July and wasn’t even seen until this happened.
“Damages were probably just a few hundred dollars between one light, the tables and paint. It blew up a few cases of water too that were beside it. A paint bucket also got struck, so it looked worse than what it really was due to the paint being everywhere. We are definitely grateful that everyone was okay.”
Checotah Fire Chief Greg Carmack confirmed that the scene was under control by 9:25 a.m. with no mutual aid needed.
