It’s no secret that we humans love fireworks. Every chance we get, we set the skies ablaze with exploding art. And as thousands of twinkling lights burst into the dark nights, our eyes shine with excitement watching them shoot up like sparkling comets then fan out into huge splendoring umbrellas.

While we get mesmerized by the magnificent displays, we often forget that these exploding arts could also go horribly wrong. It has happened before, and chances are it’ll keep happening. Here are the 12 most viral fireworks fails we’ve seen during the December 2020 global holidays or New Year 2020:

1.      Edinburgh 2012

A firework display at the Pentland Community Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland went completely off track when one of the rockets misfired and ricocheted into the box of the unexploded rockets, setting them all off at once.

In the fireworks videos people can be seen running for their lives when the accident happened. It was revealed later that no one was seriously injured. The management stated that the £2,000 worth of fireworks were involved in the incident.

The video was posted on YouTube on 6^th November 2012 and was shared across multiple social media platforms, garnering more than 64,000 views.

2.      Location Unknown, Light Her Up

This one is the best. This one is our favourite. The man holding the camera tells the other man, who is probably somebody’s grandpa to ‘light her up’ and that’s exactly what he does.

What happens next has us in fits of laughter.  We see him casually walk away and stand completely still while the others around him run away in frenzy as the mini bombs fire and explode in every direction. Grandpa is not scared. He’s a man of great valour and he laughs at the end and asks, ‘everybody alive?’ when things settle down.

3.      San Diego 2012

Warning: If you’re wearing headphones, lower down the volume because this video is LOUD!

It’s day time at night as all the fireworks explode at the same time at the Fourth of July celebration in San Diego, California. The plan was to use a computer program to launch the explosives in sync with the music.

However, when the technicians started warming up the computer to do a little test, it launched all the fireworks at the same time. While some screamed ‘this is insaannee,’ others in the video thought ‘it was the best firework show ever.’

4.      Los Angeles 2013

This happened at Simi Valley in Los Angeles. What started as a slow and fun firework show quickly turned into a hazard as a few of the fireworks went off on the ground. The incident occurred near a parking lot and the video shows people frantically running for safety.

According to the video description on YouTube, 39 people were injured in this firework explosion.

5.      Iowa 2013

Once again, a computer program that was supposed to create a fun show did the exact opposite because of a technical glitch. It set off almost the entire show at the same time, with a few sequences as planned at the end.

The video went viral in 2014 and was shared on many social media platforms. The good thing is that the field was evacuated except for two firefighters before the incident so nobody was injured.

6.      Myanmar 2012

This video is from the Tazaungdaing Festival that is celebrated in Myanmar ever year to mark the end of the rainy season. What happens in the video doesn’t come as a surprise to us at all. What do you expect to happen when you load up a hot air balloon with fireworks? Things are highly likely to go wrong, and they did! Garnering 66,000 views on YouTube, the video shows the incident from different angles.

7.      Somebody’s Home

We have no idea what the people in this video are thinking. They’re setting off a bunch of fireworks with increasing intensity and are way too close to a house. The inevitable happens and they blow out a window of this house.

One would think now that a window is destroyed, maybe these guys would stop. But no, they don’t. They keep setting off fireworks, each bigger than the last. You’ll have to watch the video to find out how it ends.

8.      Also Somebody’s Home

What do you mean dumb? This man is pure genius. He created his very own firework mixture at home, the only mistake he made was that he tested it out at home. “I think I have the perfect mixture, it should just sparkle a little bit” he said and went on to light it up, and boy did it sparkle!

9.      Medina Lake 2010

While we have no idea what’s actually happening in this video, it looks bad! Really very bad. We just hope everyone made it out alive.

10.  Spain 2013

We can’t tell if this is how it was supposed to be or if something actually went wrong. This video is from a Spanish Festival, La Mascleta, where things are blown up on purpose. However, that explosion at the end doesn’t look planned.

11.  A Car 2011

What a perfectly timed alarm to let everyone know of this illegal neighbourhood firework display.

12.  Firework Fails Compilation

If you want to watch more hilarious firework fails video, check out this video and it will leave you in fits of laughter and even a little bit scared to go watch the New Year’s day fireworks display this year.  

We all love fireworks, but on a serious note, we need to make sure that we follow all safety procedures when arranging these displays. If you’re going to watch a display, make sure you stay at a safe distance from the location and take other necessary precautions. Remember, safety comes first, firework displays come second.

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