A man in his 20s died after a firework exploded in his hand on the roof of an abandoned building at the former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant on the night of the Fourth of July, the Lake Johanna Fire Department says.
Ramsey County dispatchers received a 911 call around 1:30 a.m. on July 5 reporting that a man in his 20s had a firework explode in his hand while on the rooftop of an abandoned building, according to the fire department. The caller first placed the man near County Road I and said he had injuries to his face and chest and was unconscious but breathing.
Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies, Lake Johanna firefighters and Allina Medical Transport responded. Deputies found the man unconscious on the roof and updated the location to an abandoned building on the former ammunition plant site. Because the building’s stairs could not be used for a rescue, a sergeant requested a helicopter from the Minnesota Air Rescue Team.
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Firefighters helped care for the man and prepared him to be moved off the roof. Crews used Ladder 113, a 101-foot articulating aerial platform, to reach the roof, then placed the man in a Stokes basket and lowered him to the ground. The helicopter request was cancelled.
Allina paramedics and two firefighters took the man to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where he was taken into surgery but died of his injuries.
The fire department said it later learned the man had been holding a mortar tube with a 2-inch firework when it exploded in front of a group of 15 to 20 people.
The former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant is a World War II-era U.S. Army site in Arden Hills and New Brighton that stopped producing ammunition in 1976 and was largely decommissioned in the 1980s. Dozens of buildings still stand on the grounds, many abandoned for decades and in disrepair. A 427-acre portion of the site, once a federal Superfund cleanup because of groundwater and soil contamination, is being redeveloped as Rice Creek Commons, a mixed-use community of housing, commercial space and parks.
The incident remains under investigation by multiple state and local agencies.
The man, described only as being in his 20s, has not been identified.
