Spring Break
WWE investigates what went wrong in Orlando fireworks display
Apr. 1, 2008
Sarah Lundy and Walter Pacheco - The Orlando SentinelIssue date: 3/27/08 Section: MCT News
ORLANDO, Fla. _ John Voit's sons live for the theatrics of World Wrestling Entertainment _ the larger-than-life characters, the fierce rivalries and the showy pyrotechnics. All that changed at WrestleMania 24 Sunday night when a fireworks-show malfunction dropped live rockets into the cheering fans below.
Orlando Fire Department officials said 30 to 35 wrestling fans were injured, and three of those were treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center, after a cable that held fireworks on the southwest end of the Citrus Bowl snapped. The burning cable and fireworks dropped into the stands near the end of the event Sunday night.
"My 12-year-old son got burned on his leg, he twisted his knee when he ducked under the bleachers and I have three welts on my back from the rockets that struck me," Voit said. "He's still shivering like a leaf."
Voit remembered covering his 9-year-old son, Stephen, and his friend, Felix, as a shower of burning gold and purple embers fell on them.
"After the cables snapped, the batch of fireworks just hung there burning above our heads," he said. "How could they have allowed the WWE to put explosive devices above the heads of children?"
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Hoggatt said a guide wire was stretched from the upper pole in the 300 section of the southwest corner of the Citrus Bowl to the stage at the north end zone. The cable was meant to supply a route for fireworks to travel down during the show. "Somewhere in that period the cable failed," Hoggatt 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," WWE said in a written statement Monday. "While we apologize to anyone who was injured and/or alarmed by this occurrence, we take solace in the fact that the reported injuries were minor."
Orlando fire officials held a press conference at City Hall on Monday and said the investigation into what went wrong is now in the hands of WWE and its New York-based fireworks contractor, Zenith Pyrotechnology, which has done work for WWE for more than a decade. Sunday's fireworks show was reported to have cost $300,000.
Orlando Fire Department officials said 30 to 35 wrestling fans were injured, and three of those were treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center, after a cable that held fireworks on the southwest end of the Citrus Bowl snapped. The burning cable and fireworks dropped into the stands near the end of the event Sunday night.
"My 12-year-old son got burned on his leg, he twisted his knee when he ducked under the bleachers and I have three welts on my back from the rockets that struck me," Voit said. "He's still shivering like a leaf."
Voit remembered covering his 9-year-old son, Stephen, and his friend, Felix, as a shower of burning gold and purple embers fell on them.
"After the cables snapped, the batch of fireworks just hung there burning above our heads," he said. "How could they have allowed the WWE to put explosive devices above the heads of children?"
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Hoggatt said a guide wire was stretched from the upper pole in the 300 section of the southwest corner of the Citrus Bowl to the stage at the north end zone. The cable was meant to supply a route for fireworks to travel down during the show. "Somewhere in that period the cable failed," Hoggatt 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," WWE said in a written statement Monday. "While we apologize to anyone who was injured and/or alarmed by this occurrence, we take solace in the fact that the reported injuries were minor."
Orlando fire officials held a press conference at City Hall on Monday and said the investigation into what went wrong is now in the hands of WWE and its New York-based fireworks contractor, Zenith Pyrotechnology, which has done work for WWE for more than a decade. Sunday's fireworks show was reported to have cost $300,000.
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