Fireworks misfire bursts vehicle into flames

St. Clair, Mich. -(FOX 2)-Neighbors say between 30 and 40 people gathered at a house on Grand Lake in St. Clair, Michigan, to watch a fireworks display which turned dangerous.

One of the fireworks had a misfire causing a hot ember to shoot toward a 2005 Ford Escape - containing a large cache of fireworks inside.

"They ignited when the errant firework ended up in the back," said St. Clair Shores Police Chief Todd Woodcox said.

And within seconds the vehicle burst into flames.

"I was panicking," said Kathy Lopiccolo. "I called 911 and tried to tell people to get away from the vehicle."

"It was like a war zone," Karen Cardno said. "You could just hear stuff hitting the house and the boom and whizzing."

The explosion so powerful, Cardno's house's front window was shattered.

"Everything pelted the house," she said.

Emergency crews and police arrived to the scene to investigate but no injuries were reported.

Two citations were issued to the people responsible for igniting the fireworks in the street.

"They were each charged with one count of launching fireworks from a public property," Woodcox said. "And within 200 feet of a residential building."