Fireworks show from Deer Park firm burns dozens at WWE show

BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY | zachary.dowdy@newsday.com

11:09 PM EDT, March 31, 2008

A malfunction in a Deer Park-based company's fireworks display at a top-rated World Wrestling Entertainment show in Orlando singed dozens of fans when rockets pummeled the crowd.

Orlando fire department officials said 30 to 35 people were burned Sunday during WrestleMania XXIV at the Florida Citrus Bowl. Three were treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Officials said the accident occurred near the end of the event after a cable that held fireworks on the southwest end of the stadium snapped, shooting rockets into the stands.

Fire Assistant Chief Greg Hoggatt said the guidewire "was stretched to the stage at the north end zone. The cable was to supply a route for fireworks to travel down. Somewhere in that period the cable failed."

Deer Park-based Zenith Pyrotechnology provided the fireworks for the event, which wrestling officials said almost 75,000 people attended.

Zenith officials could not be reached for comment but World Wrestling Entertainment released a statement on its Web site that said, "We're investigating the incident and doing everything we can to find out why it happened and to make sure it never happens again."

Zenith Pyrotechnology is no stranger to the spotlight. It has enhanced the wrestling world's hyped battles before and created spectacular fireworks displays for a number of other entertainment luminaries.

Aretha Franklin, Boyz II Men and Brandy have been among the stars whose high-octane shows were amplified visually by the firm's work, according to The New York Times.

In February 1999, Zenith did the fireworks shows for Chinese New Year in New York City and, in 1998, the famous New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square.

In June 2007, the company helped stage an explosion that was supposed to depict the death of World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon as he entered a limousine in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., during a "WWE Raw" event.

Orlando Sentinel staff writer Walter Pachecho contributed to this story.