N.C. finds no permits, inspection at site of fireworks blast

OCRACOKE ISLAND, N.C.

An investigation by the office of the state fire marshal has concluded that the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching was supposed to obtain permits and inspections from that office before allowing a fireworks display on its property.

On the morning of July Fourth, a rental truck filled with fireworks exploded in the NCCAT parking lot on the south end of Ocracoke Island.

Four workers were killed, and another suffered burns to his face and arms.

In a letter released Thursday, Richard Strickland, the state's chief fire code consultant, said that as a state building, the facility is not subject to inspection by the county.

In addition, Hyde County officials were required by state law to approve applications to conduct the fireworks. They did not, Strickland wrote.

The county also did not have the services of a certified fire inspector, he wrote.

Strickland and another investigator visited Hyde County on July 8 at the request of the state Department of Labor to determine compliance with state fire codes.

County Manager Carl Classen had signed a letter giving permission to hold the display, but he is not a qualified fire inspector, Strickland wrote.

Classen did not return telephone messages Thursday.

Fireworks had been shot off from the same location annually since 2000, except for 2007, Strickland wrote. The center had given the Ocracoke Business and Civic Association permission to conduct the display on its property, he said, but the campus staff was unaware of its responsibility to obtain permits from the state fire marshal's office.

"We didn't have an actual role other than we opened the gate and we let them in," NCCAT spokeswoman Elizabeth Gillespie said.

Hyde County's ordinance requires fireworks display applications to be made to the county fire marshal 15 days in advance.

Classen said in a July 10 interview that, because of staff changes and a late application, a county permit had not been signed, and the site had not been inspected by a fire marshal.

But Strickland wrote that Hyde County had no authority to issue fireworks permits on state property, and permits it had issued in previous years were in violation of state fire codes.

The state fire marshal's office is helping the county resolve its fire inspection issues, the letter said.

Johanna Royo, spokeswoman for the fire marshal's office, said that no fines or citations have been issued.

"There won't be further action at this time, based on our findings," she said Thursday.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com