TULTEPEC, Mexico (AP) -- A fire engulfed Mexico's most famous fireworks market Thursday, setting off a chain of explosions in a town northeast of the nation's capital that destroyed hundreds of open-air stands just ahead of Independence Day celebrations.
There were no reports of deaths and only three serious injuries reported, according to Mexico state Civil Defense Director Roberto Vazquez.
He said hundreds had been treated for nervous shock or cuts and bruises suffered as they frantically raced from the exploding marketplace in Tultepec, a few miles (kilometers) northeast of Mexico City.
Vendors at the San Pablito Market said despite signs warning against smoking and lighting the merchandise, a customer who had just purchased fireworks lit one and threw it, accidentally setting off a chain of explosions that destroyed all 300 corrugated-metal and wood vending stalls, and damaged or destroyed 23 vehicles in an area of about 4,000 square meters (5,000 square yards). A towering plume of gray smoke rose over the charred and shattered remains immediately after the explosion.
The initial blast was thought to have occurred at about 1:45 p.m. (2:45 p.m. EDT, 1845 GMT).
Hours later, dump trucks continued to haul away small mountains of wood and metal, as ambulances stood by to attend any remaining injured. At one point, a clump of small firecrackers strewn across the ground behind the ambulances began to explode, sending rescue personnel running to the area with water houses as already nervous vendors and onlookers backed away.
A large percentage of the residents here earn a living making and selling fireworks, a tradition that goes back generations. A sign on the entrance to the town proclaims: ''Welcome to Tultepec, the fireworks capital.''
''It is a custom and a tradition,'' said Felipe Silva, 43, who sells the explosives to support his 30-year-old wife and six children, ages 5 to 19. ''If we don't sell fireworks, then others don't sell tortillas, or goods from the convenience stores and it has a chain effect on the town.''
Silva said he was at his stand when he heard the explosion and saw flames.
''We all ran out of there, leaving everything behind,'' he said. ''Because saving lives was the most important thing.''
The explosion occurred hours before one of Mexico's biggest annual fireworks displays, the midnight Independence Day festivities that are celebrated with rockets and explosives throughout the country.
Silva said Sept. 15 is the top-selling day of the year for fireworks, and dozens of vendors had set up tables in the market's temporary stalls.
Normally, there are open spaces between the stalls, but given the extra demand, additional fireworks had been stored in between them on Thursday, said a town resident who spoke on condition of anonymity. Because of that, the initial explosion had a domino effect, she said.
''This experience will help us be a bit more careful in terms of safety for those who come to buy,'' said Silva, a second-generation fireworks seller. ''Everything is lost economically,'' he said. ''We have basically lost everything.''
Firecrackers, skyrockets and huge whirling castles of fireworks are common at Mexican weddings, rural religious processions, village celebrations and on major national holidays.
While manufacturers are supposed to be licensed by Mexico's Defense Department, many fireworks are produced in small workshops, often in homes, whose owners don't bother with permits. San Pablito Market is a licensed area, however.
Vendors were speaking to state and local authorities Thursday evening, asking that they not lose their licenses to sell fireworks.
''They should let us keep working, not take away our fireworks,'' said vendor Maria Hernandez.
Silva added that ''the most important thing is returning to work.''
''Given that some of us are older, if we say, 'Give us work in a factory,' you think they are going to?,'' he asked. ''We will pick ourselves up and continue on.''
A fireworks artisan who would not give his name but was identified by friends only as Martin, said he could never give up the work that began with his grandfather and father before him: He labors in one of the dozens of pyrotechnical workshops about 5 kilometers (three miles) from the vending stalls, and came running to help when he heard about the explosion.
Martin insisted that the only damage resulting from Thursday's explosion was economic. ''See all those ambulances? They are all empty,'' he said.
But others, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said it is well known that in past explosions, here and in other parts of the country, residents have taken pains to hide fireworks injuries and deaths so that their permits will not be taken away.
The area was rocked several years ago by an explosion at a house doubling as a fireworks factory that destroyed an entire block. But this was the first major accident at the Tultepec vending stalls.
There also have been repeated, deadly explosions across the country.
On New Year's Eve 2002, a spark set off boxes of fireworks being sold illegally at a major shopping area in the Gulf port city of Veracruz, killing 28 people and consuming a city block.
An explosion of illegally stored fireworks in September 1999 killed 63 people, injured hundreds and leveled part of downtown Celaya in west-central Mexico.
At least 68 people were killed in 1988 due to a fireworks explosion in Mexico City's sprawling La Merced central market.
Associated Press writer Gloria Perez contributed to this report from Toluca, Mexico.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
