San Diego Fireworks 2012 Video: 4th of July "Big Bay Boom" Incident Goes Viral on the Internet

San Diego Explosion (Photo : Mike B. Newton)

Since no one was reportedly killed or injured in the 4th of July San Diego Fireworks mishap, other less important details of the accident that draw people's attention are worth mentioning here.

First of all, the fireworks show which was planned to light up Independence Day's night skies for duration of 20-minutes lasted only 15 seconds.

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The company in charge of the show, Garden State Fireworks, which by the way is an internationally recognized company - top of the line - and prepared hundreds of shows according to the Star-Ledger, informed that a malfunction in the electronics system caused all of the fireworks to go off at once.

Now dubbed the "Big Bay Boom Incident" or disaster, the video uploaded on YouTube went viral since it was posted less than two full-days ago.

The video has in fact received more than 1.1 million hits on the video portal with more than half of its hits   received in less than 24 hours.

According to the Big Bay Boom's website, more than 500,000 people gather annually to witness one of the largest fireworks displays in the United States on Independence Day.

"It shook the whole building. I thought it was a bomb or someone was shooting everybody," Teagan Hamblin, a Kansas resident who was visiting San Diego told CNN. "Car alarms, every kind of noise came on. It was really unexpected."

Apparently, the music continued to play even after it was obvious that the fireworks were all done for and there was nothing left to be seen. Songs included "Proud to be an American" and "Born in the USA".

"This is very uncommon ... there was nothing in the pyrotechnics that went wrong," said August Santore from Garden State Fireworks. "It was the electronics."

A statement on the website for the Big Bay Boom reads:

"Approximately 5 minutes before the show was to start, a signal was sent to the barges that would set the timing for the rest of the show after the introduction. There were a number of preliminary test signals sent hours and minutes leading up to the show. All these signals tested properly according to Garden State Fireworks, the fireworks company that provides the show.

The Garden State Fireworks team will be working throughout the night to determine what technical problem caused the entire show to be launched in about 15 seconds.

We apologize for the brevity of the show and the technical difficulties."

Take a look once again:

 

San Diego Explosion / Image Credit: Mike B. Newton