WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. — Fire investigators say there is evidence that a homeowner was smoking when 700 pounds of fireworks exploded in the Whidbey Island neighborhood in Greenbank on Wednesday afternoon.
Neighbors told KIRO 7 that they saw the homeowner who stockpiled the explosives smoking earlier that day.
The blast, which destroyed two homes and damaged a third, also injured five people, including two firefighters. All are expected to recover.
KIRO 7 spoke with neighbors who said their suspicions and worries dated much further back than the blast.
“We saw all the fireworks… we could see on his back porch… he had an AC outside trying to keep them cool… it was the weirdest thing… nothing about it felt right," said Lila Hayes, a friend and business partner of a woman whose home was damaged in the explosion, told KIRO.
According to neighbors, the last shipment of fireworks came hours before they detonated. Video taken by one of the neighbors shows the homeowner returning to their home Friday and smoking as they go through the rubble.
In an interview with KIRO, one neighbor said that somebody in the community has threatened to sue the man responsible for the explosion but that he had left shortly after saying that “his lawyer told him to leave.”
Some neighbors say criminal charges should be brought against the man. The Island County Sheriff’s Office told KIRO that they are in contact with state agencies and reviewing regulations on storing fireworks to determine whether criminal charges will be filed.
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