Bethpage Firm Involved in Major Fireworks Malfunction

A Bethpage-based firm that stages major fireworks displays around the country was involved in a pyrotechnic malfunction that left 28 people hurt in California Thursday night. 

Bay Fireworks, based on South Oyster Bay Road in Bethpage, was hired for the Simi Valley fireworks display July 4 that went wrong, spraying an Independence Day crowd of perhaps 10,000 people in a shower of explosives and debris, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The company issued a statement Friday, saying it "deeply regrets" the incident, the Times reported.

The Bethpage company, whose clients include the New York Mets, Disney and NASA among others, was hired by the Simi Valley Rotary Club to put on a show in Rancho Santa Susana Community Park. 

Authorities told the Los Angeles Times that, at about five minutes into the show, one of the pyrotechnic devices exploded prematurely, setting off a chain reaction that sent other fireworks into the crowd. Video of the incident, taken by a variety of cellphones, show a plume of smoke and colored sparks flying toward the crowd. Screaming is heard in the videos as panicked onlookers tried to flee.

The victims ranged in age from 8 to 78. Twenty were taken to area hospitals. Four suffered "serious, but not life-theatening, injuries," The Times reported.