A GoFundMe account has been created to help the Lehighton woman recently injured in an explosion at a Slatington fireworks factory.

Celebration Fireworks Inc. owner and President, John Kemps, of Emmaus, created the page to help cover the hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be needed for Kristina Steets’ operations and recovery.

Since the site’s creation, $17,510 has been reached of the $100,000 goal, which includes a $5,000 donation from Celebration Fireworks.

Kemps posted on the site, “The damage is extensive, but the great surgeons at Lehigh Valley Hospital saved her hands.”

He said Steets is in a medically induced coma while reconstructive and skin graft surgery is being completed.

Kemp said workers’ compensation insurance will cover some of the costs but, “afterward she will need lots of physical therapy and emotional healing.”

The 911 center received the call just before 8 a.m. June 30 about the explosion at the Seventh Street location.

Starting an early morning shift at Celebration, Steets was assembling firework shells for the many upcoming July 4 displays throughout the area when the shell exploded in her hands without warning.

Steets had been working on attaching the electric igniter or electric match, a device attached to each firework shell that enables operators to safely fire it from a distance, when the malfunction happened.

“It’s a shock,” Kemps said. “We had no reason to believe the match was faulty. Usually in accidents like this it’s impossible to know exactly what happened.

“We know the risks in the industry but accidents do happen.”

The explosion

Slatington Fire Department Chief Jason Nicholas said 38 year-old Steets had been found in an office before being rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township.

A small fire erupted from the explosion but it was extinguished quickly, Nicholas said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Allentown Bomb Squad were also on site.

The explosions and blaze were ruled accidental, but the ATF is investigating the cause of the initial spark.

“There is structural damage to the barn where the explosion occurred, but a storage area and office were not affected,” Nicholas said.

Some fireworks that were damaged in the explosion were detonated in a nearby field.

Celebration Fireworks is a regional fireworks display company that serves Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

The company designs and produces its own equipment for use in professional displays for holidays, community festivals, weddings, corporate events and more.

The company has been open since 2001 and at the Slatington location since 2012.

Storage of fireworks was previously in a Weisenberg Township facility.

An average five to 15 employees are working at the facility on any given day preparing fireworks.

“It’s remarkable the troops rallied and got all the orders out for the holiday weekend,” Kemps said.

OSHA is investigating the incident.

“We are cooperating with them,” Kemp said, adding he expects to receive a report soon. “It’s a stressful time when things are running smoothly and what happened is a weight on everyone’s heart right now.”

Kemps said he will “double down” on safety training for employees saying he will work, “to be proactive and take measures to make it safer, I will personally sit with each employee and redouble efforts.”

Steets has been a part-time worker at the plant for three years. Her father is also an employee.

“She was injured at another job long ago, and she suffers from a chronic condition known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome which is not curable and is poorly understood and which has cost her the sight of one eye and constant joint pain and disability,” Kemps said.

“Celebration Fireworks is asking for your help for Krissy,” Kemps wrote. “I believe in the power of all of us reaching out to her to tell her how concerned we are about her.”

Kemps is asking the community to mail get well cards to: Kristina Steets, Room J215-B, Lehigh Valley Health Network 1200 S. Cedar Crest Blvd, Allentown PA 18103.

Anyone wanting to donate to Steets should go to fundme.com/Krissy-fireworks.