An employee suffered first-degree burns in a flash fire at a Byron fireworks plant Tuesday afternoon.
Peach County Fire Chief Thomas Doles said it happened just after lunch at the Pyrotechnic Specialties Inc. on Juniper Creek Road.
"They had employees packaging the stuff for disposal; something went awry and they got a little flash fire," said Doles. The employee was hospitalized, he said.
The plant manufactures various types of small explosives, such as "flash grenades" used by law enforcement in raids.
Doles had no further details on the type of material being used or how the accident happened. He also did not have the employee's name.
He said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to investigate the accident.
We could not reach Pyrotechnic Specialties Inc. for comment.
This isn't the first time that an explosion happened at the plant either. In 2006, an unexpected explosion damaged several homes in the area.
Some of the problems date back to 1999 when they received 14 citations by the U.S. Department of Labor.
In January of 2009, federal prosecutors dropped fraud charges against the firm after they were accused of selling faulty grenades that injured FBI agents. Charges were dropped by the judge because he said the FBI had a report saying it wasn't the company's fault.
At the time, CEO David Karlson said he knew the charges would fail and that the allegations hurt his business. US Attorney Max Wood said that the office properly handled the case.
Months later, the Environmental Protection Agency cited PSI to remove hazardous waste immediately. The release said, "hundreds of containers of explosive and reactive hazardous waste that were being improperly stored in various sea-land containers were discovered."
Karlson said the release overstated and exaggerated the problems and that the company was waiting for permission to ship the waste to a dump site in Missouri.
