Longview firefighter Jared Maddox rolls up a hose after attending to an ammonia leak on East Cotton Street. Maddox, who worked for the Longview Fire Department from 1988 to 2016, was killed in July 2023 in a fireworks explosion. (Longview News-Journal File Photo)

Upshur County officials announced Wednesday that Jared Maddox, the owner of Firehouse 9 Farm, was killed in the explosion and subsequent fire Tuesday at the facility.

There were four other individuals injured in the explosion at 4101 Locust Road in Gilmer, though no update on their condition was made available.

According to ATF Agent Kevin Mack, the persons preparing the fireworks at the site were nearing completion of approximately 300, 3-inch fireworks shells when the explosion occurred. Evidence and witness statements indicate that the electric match that feeds a shell caused the explosion.

“When we arrived on scene we had four individuals that we identified as being injured and one that was in the structure that we believed (was) deceased,” Upshur County Sheriff Larry Webb said Tuesday.

According to Webb, at 10:33 a.m. the office received a call about a fireworks explosion at the event venue. A multi-jurisdictional response followed, with nine departments responding.

Maddox was licensed by the state as a pyrotechnics operator. To earn that certification he had to pass a Pyrotechnic Operator test, submit to a background check, and complete various state forms and applications.