GUILDERLAND — Police are investigating a tractor-trailer-sized cache of illegal fireworks and explosive material after an emergency medical call led them to the stash.

Guilderland Police say they assisted emergency medical services workers with a call to a Westmere home, 117 Brandon Terrace, and they found a car running inside of a garage. A man was then evacuated from the residence because of a carbon monoxide threat and taken to Westmere Elementary School where a medical helicopter landed and transported him to Westchester County, according to Lieutenant Curtis Cox of the Guilderland Police.
The man was listed as "stable" by the Westchester Medical Center on Tuesday.

However, said Cox, it was what police found inside of the house that prompted them to call the State Police Bomb Disposal Unit.
"Upon investigation, we found commercial-grade fireworks in a variety of locations around the home," he said. "Some of it was stored in large crates."

Both handmade and commercially-made fireworks were found in the home, as well as the raw materials to make fireworks, such as black powder and flash powder, said Chief Technical Sergeant Tim Fischer of the State Police.
"Although those are the most common ingredients in pipe bombs, there were no bombs being made there," Fischer told The Enterprise. "There was a small laboratory inside"He was making powders for fireworks."

The Guilderland Police and State Police are conducting a joint investigation into the incident, said Cox.

The case is still under investigation and no formal charges have been filed, Cox said, although they are anticipated.
"Fireworks are very volatile and certainly should not be stored in a house at that quantity," said Fischer. "There were enough fireworks and dangerous materials to fill a tractor trailer."
If the house were to catch on fire, Fischer said, it could have posed "quite a problem" for local emergency responders.

The law
In New York State it is illegal for an individual without a permit to "offer or expose for sale, sell or furnish, any fireworks" or to "possess, use, explode or cause to explode any fireworks."
Fireworks are defined by state law as any "blank cartridge pistol, or toy cannon in which explosives are used, firecrackers, sparklers or other combustible or explosive of like construction, or any preparation containing any explosive or inflammable compound or any tablets or other device commonly used and sold as fireworks."

Road flares, signal flares, cap guns, and ammunition for firearms are not considered fireworks under the law.
"Right now, the problem in New York is that it’s the same charge whether you have a tractor-trailer load of fireworks or a small quantity," said Fischer. "There have been talks in the legislature the last few years about changing that."

The Westmere man may also be facing reckless endangerment charges and storage violations, Fischer said.

Bomb squad

Fischer said he, and two other officers from the State Police Bomb Disposal Unit, who all have hazardous-material training, removed the fireworks and volatile materials from the home and placed them into a storage facility.
"We have storage facilities for the materials"Right now we’re holding it as evidence until a judge orders it to be destroyed," Fischer said. "As soon as we can, we destroy the material."

His unit destroys fireworks and other explosives in controlled detonations, said Fischer.

There are 13 bomb squads in New York State, one for every major city, such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and New York, and one for each large suburban county like Rockland, Westchester, Suffolk, and Nassau.

Fischer’s unit covers a large section of upstate New York, including Albany County, and has one of the biggest coverage areas in the state.

Included in its arsenal of equipment, the State Police Bomb Disposal Unit routinely use dogs, bomb trailers, robots, x-ray machines, and counter-explosives depending on the type of call they receive.
Cox said it’s standard procedure for the Guilderland Police to call in a bomb squad when they come across explosive material or "old munitions," like hand grenades, motor rounds, and other materials, which, Cox said, some people save as war souvenirs.

Fischer agreed that old munitions can pose a threat to public safety.
"We need to make sure the neighborhood is safe," Cox told The Enterprise. "That is why we take these types of actions and contact the proper agencies."

In 2004, Division Bomb Technicians handled 311 incidents in New York State, which included 90 commercial detonations, 44 items of found military ordnance, 52 recovered commercial explosives, and 42 incidents involving fireworks. The same year, more than 1,200 sticks of dynamite were destroyed and 50,000 detonators.
"We do this all the time"We have the majority of the state to cover," Fischer said. "I’ve worked in this area my whole life"All of my men are dedicated and work very hard at what they do."