State Inspectors Begin Blast Probe Within 15 Minutes

Source: unknown
Date: 3 April 1930

A probe of the causes of the explosion at the Pennsylvania Fireworks Display Company plant, Devon, was started fifteen minutes after the blast this morning by factory inspectors of the State Department of Labor and Industry operating from the 69th street offices of the bureau.

Supervising Inspector R. W. Hackett, accompanied by Inspector H. M. Lippincott, hastened by motorcar to the scene.

"The plant was well conducted," declared Inspector Lippincott. "I make a regular inspection trips to the plant and each time I found admirable precautions being taken against explosions."

"The plant is well laid out, storage houses are amply safeguarded by being separated from workrooms.

Puzzled by Explosion

"There is no machinery used in the processes of manufacture, and I am at a loss to account for the explosion. The employes [sic] merely pack the explosives into the pieces of fireworks and there are no moving metal devices that might generate electric sparks by friction. "

"The plant does not employ many workers and those who are employed are seasoned in the industry and are amply educated as to the perils of carelessness."

"Every one of my inspections revealed a well-conducted plant. But nevertheless we will conduct a full and searching investigation to uncover the cause of the blast."

Second Blast in Plant

The explosion today was the second in the history of the Devon plant. On June 12, 1927, residents of the village were thrown into a panic when a one-story frame storage house blew up, shattering windows of nearby dwellings.

Flames shot high in the air as the walls of the storage house, one of several placed at 100-foot intervals over the large field occupied by the company, collapsed. A rocket set off by the blast at that time shot into the air and descended piercing a bedroom window at the home of Mrs. Giuseppi D’Orto, as she was asleep in the room with her 2-week-old infant.

Lines of firehose laid by the Berwyn Volunteer Fire Company brought water from half a mile away and enabled them to check the spread of the blaze. No one was injured.

References: When the Fireworks Factory in Devon Blew Up by Bob Goshorn, TEQ 16-3 (Fall 1978)