Kjær commemorates 20th anniversary of Kolding fireworks factory explosion tragedy

Marianne Kjær was initially disappointed when she saw the fire. “There was just a container with gray smoke pouring from one end,” she recalls. On November 3, 2004, Kjær responded as a volunteer firefighter to a blaze at N.P. Johnsens Fireworks Factory in the Seest neighborhood of Kolding. She barely had time to say goodbye to her son before rushing out the door.

Kjær, who began her volunteer firefighting career in Kolding 34 years ago and continues to serve with TrekantBrand, hoped the incident would be an exciting challenge. Instead, it turned into a catastrophe. Today marks 20 years since a fireworks factory exploded in the middle of a residential area.

Arriving in the command vehicle with a colleague, they found other firefighters already fighting the flames. They believed they would finish the job in two hours. However, the situation quickly escalated when one of the burning containers suddenly exploded, followed by a second explosion, causing Kjær to be thrown across the command vehicle.

In the chaos, she spotted two colleagues assisting another man with burns. After cooling him down, they were ordered to evacuate. “We didn’t get Max out,” a colleague informed her, referring to Kjær’s friend and fellow firefighter, Max Jørgensen, who tragically died due to the explosion.

Kjær struggled to accept the news and prioritized informing Jørgensen’s wife personally rather than letting an officer break the news. Later, she experienced the devastating reality of the situation as she attempted to support Jørgensen’s family and reflect on how fragile life can be.

The tragedy led to stricter regulations on fireworks storage and sales in Denmark, emphasizing the importance of learning from such calamities. Today, Kjær will visit Jørgensen’s grave with fellow emergency workers to honor his memory and reflect on the lessons learned from the Seest disaster.