Illegal fireworks resulted in several major blazes, arrests and injuries in drought-stricken California this Fourth of July weekend.
In one incident at a block party a rocket went astray and struck a crowd, injuring several panicked onlookers, including small children.
The 35-year-old man responsible for the mishap and for unlawful possession of the errant missile confessed at the scene and was arrested.
In another county, police are still investigating a warehouse district fire that witnesses say erupted when a group of young men were setting off illegal fireworks into some nearby mattresses.
The blaze destroyed three businesses to the tune of $3-million in damages, and sent four firefighters to an emergency room with minor burns.
California officials are also reporting that mishandled rockets likely sparked a wildfire in a public park that quickly torched over 300 acres and threatened homes before it was finally brought under control.
"It's bone dry out there," said a spokesman. "Talk about a recipe for a big fire."
About 125 people were evacuated from the area while just as many firemen attempted to extinguish the widening inferno -- fanned by 40 mile-per-hour winds and tinderbox conditions.
No structures burnt in that particular incident, and no one was harmed.
At the same time, a 6-acre grassfire burned to the north which ultimately engulfed five buildings and ten vehicles.
That blaze too is believed to have been inadvertently started by someone using banned fireworks.
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