Fireworks which sparked fatal blaze "stored illegally for months", court hears (From The Argus)

Fireworks which sparked fatal blaze "stored illegally for months", court hears

1:42pm Tuesday 10th November 2009 in

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Fireworks capable of causing a mass explosion were stored illegally by a company months before a huge blast killed two firemen at one of its sites near Lewes, a court heard today.

Retained firefighter Geoff Wicker, 49, and support officer Brian Wembridge, 63, died in the explosion at Marlie Farm in Shortgate on December 3, 2006.

About a year before the tragedy, an insurers report for Festival Fireworks UK Ltd found it was in breach of its licence by storing hazardous fireworks at another of its sites.

Lewes Crown Court heard that the most dangerous types of fireworks, those listed as hazard types one and two, were kept at the company's premises at Upper Lodge Farm.

Prosecutor Richard Matthews said a letter written by the insurers to Martin Winter, the boss of Festival Fireworks UK Ltd, urged for the matter to be "addressed urgently".

It was suggested that Winter remove the fireworks and he in reply said he had done that by selling them to a customer, Mr Matthews told the jury of nine women and three men.

Continuing his opening on day two of the trial, Mr Matthews said: "The prosecution will in due course ask you to consider the relevance and significance of that letter."

The trial has heard that the two firemen, both long-serving members of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, died when a metal container illegally packed with fireworks "exploded like a bomb".

As well as causing fatal injuries to Mr Wicker and Mr Wembridge, the blast injured some 20 other people, mostly police and fire officers.

Prosecutors allege that Martin Winter and his son and employee Nathan Winter, 25, were aware of the hazards posed by storing such fireworks in a metal container in breach of the firm's licence.

On the day of the blast, Nathan Winter was preparing for a display that the company was due to put on in Eastbourne.

The fire broke out while he was handling the fireworks and equipment, resulting in exploding fireworks spreading from building to building on the site.

With the blaze intensifying, the command of the fire operation passed upwards and a decision was made to set up remote water monitors to stop the flames spreading to the container.

By that time, fire officials decided to evacuate Marlie Farm and withdraw, but a number of fire officers were still nearby, including Mr Wembridge and Mr Wicker.

In video footage captured by Mr Wembridge, which is to be shown to the jury, the container doors were blown open by the pressure shortly before his screen went blank.

Fragments from the container spread far and wide, injuring some 20 people, mostly fire and police officers, in a scene described as "total carnage".

Despite the container not being authorised by the company's licence to store fireworks, both Nathan and Martin Winter are alleged to have said they loaded it with fireworks.

Prosecutors claim the Winters were both familiar with the different hazard classifications given to fireworks and their potential for mass explosion in a confined steel container.

It is also alleged that both men were familiar with the licence and its obligations about how and what could be stored and how fireworks should be handled.

The Crown claim that, nevertheless, the container was still "packed" with fireworks, including those which posed a risk of mass explosion.

The Winters each deny two counts of manslaughter.

Not guilty pleas have also been entered on behalf of the company, now called Alpha Fireworks Ltd, which faces two counts of breaching health and safety legislation.

Jurors were today shown four clips of a metal container filled with fireworks exploding, with parts of it hurled huge distances and a stack of smoke rising above it.