Antigua Fire...

In a random course of event we (the city of Antigua) were treated to an early fireworks display. It is not uncommon to hear the explosions of "celebratory" events throughout the year. Christmas Eve and New years Eve are big annual events for fireworks. In preparation for this time, there is special area of the Mercado (market center) that is set up for sales of any kind of fireworks that you can imagine. Even those typically only available to licensed professionals in the States.

The exact reason is not known but at some point there was a spark that sent the entire area, about two and a half acres, up in a glorious 30 minute display of smoke and loud noise. Our home is 150 to 200 yards from the explosion. We had shreds of newspaper that landed in our yard. Reports came out that an estimated Q1,000,000 were lost.

There was a gentleman that also documented this event and posted here on youtube.