A child was injured when a “fireball” appeared to shatter the glass of a building in downtown Boise during the New Year’s Eve potato drop fireworks show, according to video and witnesses.
Boise Fire Department spokesperson Lauren Melink confirmed in an email to the Idaho Statesman that firefighters and Ada County EMS responded to West Bannock Street for a report of a child injured by broken glass during a fireworks display following a midnight potato drop.
The child was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Melink said.
Idaho Potato Growers did not respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
The event has been held outside the state Capitol since 2016, and video shows 17-foot-long potatoes falling from a crane as usual. But just as the giant potato finished its descent, an explosion occurred where the fireworks were being set off. The video, shot by Boise resident Joshua Dougherty, includes the sound of shattering glass as the explosion occurred.
“I saw that huge fireball explode and felt it in my chest!” Dougherty told the Statesman via Facebook Messenger.
Dougherty, who was standing on the corner of Capitol Avenue and Bannock Street, said he “immediately heard a lot of breaking glass and felt like it was raining down on me” and saw a child with blood on his face.
Doherty’s video showed broken glass scattered on the sidewalk and shattered glass in several window frames of downtown buildings.
Bystanders quickly called paramedics to the scene and the fireworks display continued without interruption, the Boise man said.
A video Doherty shared in the “Treasure Valley Police Scanners” Facebook group Thursday morning garnered hundreds of comments and shares, including accounts from other attendees who said they saw or felt the explosion, were hit by shards of broken windows or witnessed paramedics responding to injured children.
