Fireworks can turn any celebration into a magical and fun event in an instant. While we all enjoy watching great firework shows during Bonfire Night and New Year’s Eve, firework displays don’t always go according to plan.
We decided to look into the funniest and biggest firework fails. Here is our selection of the ten all-time biggest fails.
1. Setting It Off All at Once
Fireworks are great – you got mines, rockets, different colours and effects, which create amazing displays when choreographed to go off in a unique way. Unique, however, doesn’t mean setting them off all at once!
San Diego was organising a massive display in 2012, but things got out of hand and all of the fireworks exploded at once! It wasn’t much of a display, but rather a giant fireball on the night sky.
2. A Minute to Enjoy the Show
A similar thing happened in Oban, Scotland in 2011. The small community was organising a lovely fireworks display, when a technical glitch ended up setting off the fireworks all at once.
Crowds had only a minute to enjoy the colourful show. Perhaps not quite what the organisers had in mind. Nonetheless, the organisers felt so bad, they organised a new event a month later to make up for the mistake!
3. Wrong Direction
Firework explosions are massive – they nearly fill the whole night sky. While the explosions look stunning on the night sky, it can get quite scary if you don’t remember to point your fireworks towards the right direction.
In the below video, a firework display in Thailand went spectacularly wrong because the rockets never shot up directly in the air, but instead, exploded on the ground.
4. Setting Fire to the Flag
Sporting events are always a great place for a bit of firework fun. There’s nothing better than having the team run out as fireworks go off to a powerful music. The crowd cheers and the flags fly high.
Just make sure you don’t place the national flag right next to the fireworks, like they did during this Atlanta Braves baseball game.
5.Will You…Stop Burning the School Down?
We know fireworks are very romantic and the perfect addition to a wedding, for example. Many romantic Romeos out there have asked the big question under sparkling fireworks.
But it hasn’t always gone according to plan and a Chinese man unintentionally burned down a whole school when proposing to his high school sweetheart. Unfortunately, we don’t have the video for this epic fail, but you can take a sneak peek of the flames in this Express article.
6.Failure to Lift Off
Myanmar has a fantastic fireworks festival where huge hot air balloons are used for setting off fireworks in the air. The displays look spectacular, but you can only imagine what happens if the hot air balloons don’t lift off.
In fact, you don’t even need to imagine, as this happened in 2009 and someone was luckily out there to film it all.
7. Knowing Your Audience
Big fireworks are the best! They are perfect for major displays and you aren’t typically able to use them in small spaces. In fact, the safety restrictions and recommendations in fireworks aren’t there just for fun.
This guy clearly didn’t think that exploding a huge rocket in a middle of a suburban street would cause any problems. We think the neighbours probably disagree.
8. Floodlights to Ruin the Show
There are also times when things actually go according to plan, but organisers haven’t quite understood all the minor details involved in organising a great display. This American town was organising a fantastic 4th of July firework display, but forgot the fact that fireworks look best in the dark night sky.
As you can see in the video, the display itself is fantastic – there are some stunning rockets and glittering effects to please the crowd. Unfortunately, the floodlights are on and nearly ruin the show!
9. Getting Greedy
We all love firecrackers, and they are the perfect way to add a bit of spice to your celebrations. But crackers can create quite a bit of smoke and fire, which could lead to some trouble in a small city street.
A Chinese town decided it would be a great idea to set off a million firecrackers at once! Well, quite a bit of smoke ensued and the idea probably didn’t seem as fun anymore.
10. Drone Flown into Firework Display
OK, this last ‘fail’ is not even close to being an actual failure, but we just love the video and had to include it to the list. Besides, things could have gone wrong in many ways.
Someone in the US had the bright idea of flying a drone in the middle of a fireworks display! Crazy, right? But the result is simply mesmerising – another proof fireworks are amazing. Just don’t try this at home – or any of the above for the matter!
While fireworks are a great addition to any party and event, always take safety precautions seriously!
