It was a night that thousands of residents will never forget — the night that Australia’s most famous fireworks manufacturer suffered a devastating setback with a massive explosion at its state of the art Wallerawang complex.
By the time this goes to press all of Australia will be aware of the drama that unfolded since late Saturday night but it was an unwelcome place in the national spotlight that was continuing to unfold yesterday.
And for those who lived through the experience it was a story that will be told and re-told for years to come.
At the centre of day three was the continuing uncertainty about whether or not anyone died in the blast — perhaps, as police suspect, someone who triggered the explosion while attempting to steal fireworks.
The chain of events began at around 10.10 on Saturday night when homes in Wallerawang, Portland and Lithgow were rocked by a huge explosion.
Such was the magnitude of the blast that its effect was felt as far away as Blackheath.
At Wallerawang it was soon obvious what had happened —the evidence was in the vivid flashes lighting up the sky like multi-coloured sheet lightning just north of the town.
Howard and Sons Pyrotechnics has blown up!
In Lithgow as elsewhere across the district curious residents came into the streets, many in their night attire.
Most initially believed there had been an earthquake but the long procession of emergency vehicles heading out of town soon changed that.
At Wallerawang residents took up vantage points wherever they could to watch the spectacle unfolding in the sky.
Some headed for higher points along Forest Ridge Drive, the old highway.
But there was another issue confronting the emergency teams heading; the railway level crossing on the Pipers Flat Road at Wallerawang was closed for maintenance and there was no way through.
Police, fire brigade and ambulance crews heading for Howards were urgently informed by their radio controllers that they would have to take lengthy detours either along the highway to the Rydal-Wallerawang Road near Mt Lambie or by the Castlereagh Highway to Mt Piper.
By the time they arrived already more than 100 curious sightseers had gathered near the Howards property and were quickly removed by police.
Realising the seriousness of the situation the authorities moved well back from the scene and set up a command post more than 300 meters away.
They also set up roadblocks to prevent private vehicles entering the area and began evacuating homes within the exclusion zone.
Fearing more major explosions the fire brigade members played a waiting game and decided against attempting to extinguish the masses of exploding fireworks.
It was obvious that a row of shipping containers packed with fireworks for displays around Australia at New Year had exploded.
By Sunday morning the factory area was still regarded as too unstable to attempt an entry.
It was at that time that a police spokesman first informed the media that it was possible someone had died in the blast.
He said there were suspicions that the explosion had been caused by someone attempting to steal fireworks.
This opinion appeared to be backed up by WorkCover inspector John Watson who said the explosion was ‘very unusual’.
“These facilities are very safe as far as ignition sources are concerned and it will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals,” he said.
Company principal Andrew Howard said that the explosion was in a storage of professional fireworks that were ‘not particularly sensitive’ and required an external ignition source to set them off.
He said he was extremely suspicious of the cause.
With daylight came the realisation of just how many homes had been damaged in the blast, some of them severely.
On Sunday afternoon as the police bomb squad began a cautious preliminary investigation it became necessary to move more residents from their homes along Pipers Flat Road, and Willowvale Lane.
At the same time police ordered Sydney TV helicopters to leave the air space above the exclusion zone because of the risk being posed by their downdraft.
Fire Brigade units from Blackheath and Kelso were sent to Wallerawang on Saturday night to reinforce the local area.
One Blackheath fireman told the Mercury that they were aware something of a significant nature had occurred when the blast caused houses to shake in Blackheath.
A low cloud cover is believed to have caused the blast to be experienced over a much wider area.
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