The Real Cause of the San Diego Big Boom Fireworks Fiasco

According to the LA Times, an "overzealous computer backup" caused all 7000 fireworks to go off at once. When they hit "enter" a backup file was executed instead of the primary file.

The trouble? Well, it's complicated. The explanation from Garden State Fireworks, the company responsible for the mishap, is so convoluted no one seems to be sure exactly what happened. It had something to do with an overzealous backup computer file that overlapped with the primary file to accidentally set off all the fireworks at once.

"Contrary to numerous opinions and theories, the simultaneous ignition was not due to any sabotage or massive computer hardware failure," Garden State Fireworks wrote in a lengthy statement that may require a PhD in firework-ology to fully understand. "The display sequence started exactly when it was expected to and the systems executed the file the way it appeared. Sadly, the file executed was the double file created in the back-up plan download process."

Video shot at the time, however, reveals the computer had nothing to do with it. It was "human" error.

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posted by rdbrewer at 04:36 PM

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