Reds: Here's what caused the smokestack fire

Reds fans should be able to enjoy their flaming PNC Power Stacks as normal by next Monday, after a one-alarm fire shut down the attraction at Great American Ball Park last Friday night.

Tim O'Connell, Reds vice president of ballpark operations, said Tuesday that the offending right-side smokestack has been inspected and given the OK by engineers.

"The more we found about it, it was a malfunction in the actual firework itself that caused the fire," O'Connell said. "It's a lift charge, a charge that that lifts the firework into the air, that malfunctioned. That was the main culprit in it."

The Cincinnati Fire Department confirmed that fireworks were heat sources in the fire but the cause is still under investigation.

O'Connell said there was no damage to the structure itself.

"Rozzi's (Fireworks) is in the process of replacing its equipment," O'Connell said. "Our anticipation is that it will be fully operational for next Monday's game."

The Reds are on a five-game road trip through Kansas City and Cleveland. The team returns home for a Monday game against Colorado at 1:10 p.m. at Great American Ball Park.

O'Connell said he did not have an estimate of repair costs. Several white, plastic baseball bats sit atop the smokestacks and some bats were charred black by the flames. The stacks usually shoot fireworks when a Reds batter hits a home run and orange flames when a Reds pitcher strikes out an opponent. Last Friday, flames and fireworks erupted unexpectedly before the right stack caught fire.

The fire, which made national news, began in the sixth inning of the Reds-Giants game last Friday. Play continued while the fire burned, with the Cincinnati Fire Department extinguishing the blaze after several minutes. There were no injuries reported. The Giants led the game 6-2 at the time and eventually won 10-2.

A near-sellout crowd of 39,867 attended the game. Two sections of seats were temporarily cleared in the right-center field area under the stacks, with firefighters not wanting spectators to be sprayed by water from fire hoses overhead. The smokestacks were inactive during the Reds-Giants games this past Saturday and Sunday, the final two games of the homestand.

O'Connell said there appears to be no danger going forward.

"The chances of that happening again are pretty rare," O'Connell said. "It was one of those things that happened at the right moment that caused this. We will have a full inspection of it before we go operational again, but right now there is no indication whatsoever of any problems."

The Cincinnati Fire Department has not yet released it's fire report regarding the incident.