A fiery explosion that killed 16-year-old Brett A. McLamarrah Saturday evening may have blown the lid off an illegal fireworks manufacturing and distribution network involving mostly teenagers.
Salt Lake County fire officials believe as many as 200 homemade explosive devices are still in the community.After examining eight devices recovered from McLamarrah's friends at Cyprus High School, County Fire Marshal Max Berry said the items are dangerous and unstable. He urged anyone knowing about or having illegal fireworks to call 911.
Berry said a number of people in the Magna area may have been involved in making or distributing the homemade fireworks, built from materials available at sporting goods and hardware stores. Building incendiary devices is a felony offense, he said.
Eight homemade devices and photocopied, handwritten price lists for explosives selling for 50 cents to $4 have been recovered so far in an investigation into McLamarrah's death.
He was found dead in the basement of his parents' house, at 3815 S. 8000 West, after a late-night explosion Saturday had knocked his mother out of bed and sent her scurrying to a neighbor's house to call the fire department. Thick, black smoke was billowing from the basement where her son's bedroom was when she left the house, according to a sheriff's report. No other family members were home at the time.
Investigators believe several pounds of black powder and an oxidizer, probably ammonium sulfate packaged as commercial lawn fertilizer, fueled the explosion that killed McLamarrah. His body wasn't found until after the fire was extinguished.
Berry said the devices recovered came from McLamarrah's friends at Cyprus. County officials are hoping to recover more of the devices, which Berry said are unstable and could explode if jarred abruptly or exposed to heat.
During the investigation, officers have found homemade fireworks as small as an inch long, probably comparable to a large firecracker; and as large as 1 inch in diameter and 12 inches long, perhaps as potent as half a stick of dynamite.
Fire investigators say they don't have enough evidence yet to determine whether the teenager was making the fireworks at the time of the fatal explosion. Much of the potential evidence went up in smoke, Barry said, adding that the house was so badly damaged it will probably have to be demolished.
The state medical examiner's office concluded an autopsy on the teen Monday but hadn't yet released a report that would indicate what compounds were involved in the deadly explosion, Berry said.
The teen's mother, Lorene McLamarrah, and a neighbor told deputy sheriffs that her son kept black powder and other chemicals in the basement that he used in making fireworks.
The eight explosives recovered by investigators were made of brightly colored, fabric-lined vinyl that was rolled tightly into a tube. A stout fuse was inserted in the side of each tube.