Two men had to be airlifted with significant burns after several fireworks inadvertently exploded at once during a private Fourth of July display on Lake Sinclair.
The victims were setting off fireworks on a floating barge in the Cold Branch area of the lake when a large explosion sent them diving into the water, authorities said.
“A sparkler had landed in one of the firework boxes and set off a bunch of them at one time,” said Sgt. Bo Kelly with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources law enforcement division.
The barge was anchored about 50 yards from the nearest dock, Kelly said. No one watching the fireworks display was reported injured.
A witness described seeing “a huge fireball” and fireworks shooting off horizontally before everyone on the barge jumped into the water and swam to shore, Putnam County chief sheriff’s Deputy Russell Blenk said.
Three people on the barge were injured, two of them severely. Putnam County Fire and Rescue was called around 10 p.m. to treat the victims and prepare them for transport to a burn center in Augusta. Eatonton residents James Mallory, 30, and Gregory Austin Meyer, 25, were significantly burned. Meyer sustained the worst of it with first- and second-degree burns to his face, arms and legs. Both were in stable condition and preparing for surgery Thursday, Blenk said.
The DNR is investigating.
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