Landowner assessing damage caused by city fireworks display

The owner of the property that caught fire during the Oak Creek Fourth of July fireworks display is still assessing the damage to his land, according to an Oak Creek police report.

The fire was called in just before 9:30 p.m. July 4 by a resident in the 9100 block of South Nicholson Road, who stated she was watching the fireworks from her home when the field behind her home started on fire.

An officer in the area saw the flames and evacuated the woman from her residence. Officers also evacuated people from several other homes in the area of the fire for safety reasons.

Fire Chief Tom Rosandich said the department had doubled the number of fire personnel along the east and west ends of the fireworks due to dry conditions.

"When you shoot fire out of a cannon, things can happen," Rosandich said. "If you look at the whole region and the amount of cities that did fireworks, it was a small percentage that had minor fires."

The fire was contained to a one-acre field area close to where the fireworks were being set off, and was extinguished in 15 minutes by the Oak Creek Fire Department.

Those evacuated from their homes were able to return 30 minutes later.

An employee of Spielbauer Fireworks confirmed that a shell casing and pull string found near the charred area belonged to their fireworks company.

There is no word on whether the company will be held financially responsible for the fire damages, Rosandich said.

- Carley Rymkus contributed to this report.