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Cortez Fireworks Show Accidentally Sets Fireworks Trailer on Fire

Howstuffworks
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Creative Commons

The grand finale of the Fourth of July fireworks show in Cortez was interrupted for  15 minutes Tuesday night after the fireworks trailer caught fire. Cortez Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Bittle tells KSJD a charge detonated too close to the ground and ignited part of the trailer. The show’s organizer, Keenan Ertel, immediately cut power to the fireworks’ electronic ignition system to allow firefighters on scene to extinguish the blaze, which did not injure anyone or spread beyond the trailer. The show resumed after crews finished safety checks.

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Austin Cope is a former Morning Edition host for KSJD and now produces work on a freelance basis for the station. He grew up in Cortez and hosted a show on KSJD when he was 10 years old. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School in 2010, he lived in Belgium, Ohio, Spain, northern Wyoming, and Himachal Pradesh, India before returning to the Cortez area. He has a degree in Politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.
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