Esparto, California - Seven people remained missing Wednesday in California, a day after a fireworks warehouse explosion injured two victims and sparked a giant fire, authorities said.
Clouds of smoke rise following explosions at a firework storage warehouse in Esparto, California. © Hudson Sheats via REUTERS
The explosion occurred Tuesday evening after a fire broke out in a warehouse located in the town of Esparto, in the northern part of the state.
"Seven individuals remain unaccounted for," California's state firefighting agency said in a statement. "First responders and investigators are working diligently with the property owner to determine the whereabouts of those individuals."
The two injured people have been located and are now out of danger, according to authorities.
However, firefighters have still not been able to access the warehouse because the fireworks held inside can still explode.
Esparto Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence called the situation "very complex and risky."
"There were, you know, reports of a large debris field of large pieces of shrapnel spread out across a large area," he told a press conference.
"So we maintained a wide perimeter of a wide berth around this area today into the day, and we kept our responders in a safe location."
Emergency crews gather Tuesday at Highway 16 and County Road 86A in Esparto, California, near the location of a fireworks explosion on a warehouse on County Road 23. © IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire
The authorities' cautious response angered some relatives of the victims.
A woman interrupted the press conference and complained she had no information about her boyfriend and two brothers-in-law who were among the missing.
She accused the firefighters of not "focusing on the people who are stuck in the warehouse, possibly dead."
"People have possibly lost their lives because of you guys not doing your job well enough," the woman, who did not identify herself, said.
Following the accident, several nearby towns announced they would have to cancel their fireworks displays scheduled for Friday, July 4, when America celebrates Independence Day.
"This type of incident is very rare, as facilities like this are required to not only follow our stringent California pyrotechnic requirements, but also federal explosive storage requirements," Cal Fire said in its statement.
