Blast: Spontaneous combustion blamed

A fire that led to two explosions at a fireworks company in Sichuan province was caused by the spontaneous combustion of nitrocellulose, local authorities said.
Six people were injured in the incident.

The fire broke out at about 9:10 pm, and two successive explosions occurred on Wednesday in a workshop of Jinyan Fireworks Co in Nanfengi, Guanghan.

The Sichuan provincial department of emergency management sent fireworks experts to the site to investigate.

Through inquiries with company employees who were on duty, viewing video surveillance footage and making observations at the site, the experts concluded the fire started with the decomposition of nitrocellulose stored at high temperatures in the warehouse.

The decomposition process generates heat, and at some point spontaneous combustion occurred, igniting charcoal in the adjacent warehouse, which in turn ignited the ignition line stored in a nearby building and bringing on the explosions, the department said.

The fire was extinguished by 6 am on Thursday.

Among the six injured, two were seriously hurt and four escaped with minor injuries. All are being treated in the hospital, according to the Deyang city government information office.

Guanghan is a city administered by Deyang.