SHAWANO, WI- The Shawano County Sheriff’s Department has learned more about the events that led to a bonfire explosion that injured many last week. Sheriff officials have been able to identify about 60 people who were at the bonfire last weekend. They were able to meet with about 20 of those individuals and have obtained a verbal or written statement from them.
“People have been very corporative”
Sheriff officials learned that the party took place on October 14 around 6:00 p.m. The explosion took place around 10:50 p.m. and the law enforcement was notified hours later. “We are finding missing pieces and putting everything together.”
“We can confirm the accelerant which was put onto the fire was a gas and diesel fuel mixture. This mixture was contained within a 55-gallon drum container and it is believed the container was approximately one-quarter full,” Shawano Chief Deputy and Sheriff Elect George Lenzner said.
All injured parties were self-transported to the hospital by other individuals on scene. All injured parties were transported to local hospitals in Green Bay. Of those parties injured, four victims are still hospitalized in burn centers within Wisconsin, some of which remain in critical condition.
The sheriff’s office does not have any intentions on taking action regarding underage drinking. “We don’t condone, underage drinking, but we don’t think that is a necessary course of action,” Lenzner told TCHDailynews. “Based on the totality of this incident, there is a much larger issue our office needs to thoroughly investigate.”
Lenzner said in this case, the natural consequences are pretty severe for those involved. “I think we have enough people that were hurt both physically and emotionally from this that we don’t really need to do anything additional,” Lenzner said. “Hopefully these kids will learn their lesson and we will let the parents deal with all of that if they see fit.”
Lenzner said there was some poor decision making and said it may take some time and counseling to get over the incident.
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