SHAWANO COUNTY (NBC 26) — The Shawano County Sheriff's Office released more detailed information on the Pulaski bonfire explosion that injured multiple people. While the bonfire itself didn't happen in Pulaski, it was connected to a celebration of Pulaski High School's homecoming and involved former and current Pulaski High School students.
"At this point, we have been able to identify approximately 60 named individuals who were at this party/bonfire. We have been able to meet with approximately 20 of those individuals, and have obtained either a verbal or written statement from them," a statement from the sheriff's office said Thursday.
The sheriff's office now confirms that the party featuring the bonfire began at about 6 p.m. October 14. The explosion occurred between 10:50 p.m. and 10:55 p.m.
The sheriff's office confirms the accelerant put onto the fire was a gas and diesel fuel mixture. This mixture was contained within a 55-gallon drum container and it is believed the container was approximately one-quarter full.
"All injured parties were then self-transported to the hospital by other individuals on scene. All injured parties were transported to local hospitals in Green Bay. Our office was then notified by Green Bay Police Department at approximately 1:10 a.m. on October 15," the sheriff's office said.
Once the sheriff's office was notified, officers began their investigation into the explosion.
Four victims are still hospitalized in burn centers within Wisconsin, the sheriff's office said, some of which remain in critical condition.
"The sheriff’s office would like to thank those who have come forward to this point to speak to us regarding this incident," a statement from the office reads. "We would like to reiterate the fact that our office does not have any intentions of taking action regarding underage drinking. We want to make it clear that we do not condone underage drinking, but based on the totality of this incident, there is a much larger issue our office needs to thoroughly investigate."
Authorities are not releasing the names of people involved at this time, based on the age of all parties involved, the sheriff's office said Thursday.
"Our goal is to protect the identity of those who have come forward, in hopes more are willing to come forward and speak with us. We understand this is an extremely fragile situation, where many individuals who have come forward may be dealing with emotional, mental and/or physical related matters that will obviously take time to work through," the sheriff's office said.
NBC 26 spoke exclusively with one of the families of a victim who is still recovering at a burn unit in Milwaukee. Their story can be found here.
