I'm still pretty tired from Sunday and haven't had much time outside of work to write an update about this until now.
I wasn't around the firework accident Sunday night, but saw the whole thing. What is weird is that Doug, Todd, Lipman and I kept mentioning all night that some of the pyro was awfully close to the crowd when it was going off and that the winds were blowing debris towards the crowd as well.
Anyway, at the end of the entire event, there was a huge pyro display. Large fireworks were being set off from right outside of the bowl behind the entrance/exit stage. There were also fountains around the perimeter of the bowl (these weren't very far from people who were sitting in the tip-top rows).
They also had cables strung from the stage to the lighting rigs at the top of the bowl at the other end of the bowl. Basically, these ran the length of the stadium and went over the crowd. The cables had rocket type fireworks on them that were supposed to shoot down the length of the cables starting at the lighting rigs and ending on the sides of the stage.
We were in the 2nd tier of the stadium not quite in the end zone and not quite on the side of the field. We were in that little corner area. We were also on the opposite side of where the accident happened.
After the 3 count, we got up and left our seats and slowly made our way down to the little landing that separates the 2nd tier from the 1st tier. Doug and I made it down there first. Lip and Todd were still navigating the crowd. Doug and I just watched all of the pyro. Stuff was going off all around and then the rockets started. I immediately saw one go straight down into the 3rd tier underneath the lighting rig where the cable was anchored. I then saw another one almost make it the entire length, but then it dropped down into the 1st tier. The third tier area was more of less clear of people, but the first tier was not. That one hit right in the middle of people who were jammed together trying to leave. Doug and I both looked at each other and remarked that we just saw several people get hurt.
Based on the news reports, the cables failed and that is what caused the fireworks to go into the crowd. With the tension that cables are under it would have been like a whip going through the crowd too. Some of the news reports are saying that the cables were hot and they burned people. That may be true, but I'm betting that the cable marks on people weren't due to a burn as much as being lashed by the thing.
We were all OK. It is a shame that the accident happened, but it also could have been a lot worse.