Fireworks show breaks out in middle of highway after truck crash

‘It was almost like the fourth of July’

A crash on a Canadianhighway set off an unexpected fireworks show that lasted nearly an hour last week.

The chaotic display occurred when a trailer on the back of a pickup truck was hit by a semitrailer last Thursday.

The trailer had been parked on the side of the road in British Columbia at the time, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.

The crash happened around 10pm and almost an hour passed before the explosives shooting into the air finally stopped.

“It was almost like the fourth of July,” Sergeant Mike Sargent, with Hope RCMP, told CityNews.

“As a result of the fireworks going off and the fire, the pickup actually caught on fire as well and was completely burnt out. Thankfully, both drivers were able to exit their vehicles safely. One of the drivers was taken to the hospital for minor injuries, but other than that, everyone’s okay.”

The highway was closed until the fireworks were exhausted as a long line of drivers watched.

"Obviously, the fireworks were quite the display to passerby motorists," RCMP Corporal Carmen Kiener told CBC.

One passerby said the scene was like a “raging inferno” as the fireworks lit up uncontrollably.

"I came around a corner and, well, saw fireworks. It seemed very strange for 10 o’clock at night," Ryan Kuhn told the outlet.

Mr Kuhn said that vehicles slowed down or came to a stop to watch the impromptu display, which he described as the “best fireworks show I’ll ever see.”

Another driver told CityNews that while the fireworks were spectacular, she was concerned for anyone who was involved in the explosion as well as the build-up of traffic.

Kendra Bergen was driving with her son when cars started to slow down to watch the display, so she put on her hazard lights to warn people behind her.

“It was that rollercoaster of emotions of the excitement of a fireworks show bigger than any I’ve ever seen in my life,” she said to the news site.

“[Then I thought] this is the wrong place, wrong time, it shouldn’t be happening here, and then concern for, obviously, the driver of the vehicle and anyone else involved once we realised this was probably impacting some people.”

One individual, who was not identified, was taken to hospital and is in a stable condition, according to emergency responders.