What happens when your worst fears become a reality? On Tuesday, Feb. 9, 1960, citizens of Havre de Grace found out.

Fifty years ago, the Havre de Grace Fireworks Company on Chapel Road exploded, killing two people and injuring five. The plant was destroyed.

Covering more than 10 acres, at the time it was the largest fire in Havre de Grace history. The Susquehanna Hose Company was the first on the scene.

Noble Mentzer, of Havre de Grace, was an active member of the Susquehanna Hose Company who responded to the explosion. He described the grim scene of fire and smoke as “utter chaos.”

“The first of a series of 30 blasts was touched off about 1:45 p.m. Continuing for an hour and a half, with at least six of great severity, the blasts were frightening in intensity,” according to an article in The Havre de Grace Record on Feb. 11, 1960.

The president and owner of the company, James Archie Fabrizio, and a local woman, Nellie Stansbury, died in the explosion.

Mr. Fabrizio, 31, was last seen running toward the burning building with a hose just before the structure went up in flames, according to The Havre de Grace Record.

The blast was so powerful that Mr. Fabrizio’s body wasn’t discovered until hours later and had been identified through his dentures and belt buckle.

Madelyn Shank, 82, of Havre de Grace, said she knew Mr. Fabrizio because they went to school together. Achillo Fabrizio, Mr. Fabrizio’s father, opened the fireworks plant in 1922.

“He was handsome, Italian, dark wavy hair ... just an all around good sport, a lot of fun,” Shank said.

Mrs. Stansbury, 62, collapsed during the explosion and was rushed to Harford Memorial Hospital for treatment. She died two hours later at the hospital from a heart attack caused by the excitement, according to the Feb. 11, 1960 issue of The Aegis.

The company employed about 75 people, and about 65 were working at the time of the first blast and managed to escape. Only two employees received hospital treatment for injuries.

Shank was working in Baltimore when a clerk informed her Havre de Grace “just blew up.”

“She said the fireworks plant just exploded,” Shank said. “I came right up Route 40 and I could see the black smoke forever.”

Madelyn Shank’s husband, Ellsworth Shank, was working at Aberdeen Proving Ground the day of the fire.

“The only thing I remember is when I was coming home, there were a couple of helicopters flying around,” Ellsworth Shank, also 82, said. “We were concerned about how many people had been injured and killed.”

The fire was started by a short circuit in Building 3, one of the 20 or more buildings on the property, according to authorities at the time. Employees reported they had several minutes’ warning before the first explosion.

Mentzer, who was 33 at the time, was working at Aberdeen Proving Ground when he received the call.

“I was working at the [Aberdeen] Proving Ground and I was called on the second call for firemen because I was working and didn’t hear the whistle here in Havre de Grace,” Mentzer, now 83, said. “They called and asked for any firemen who could get off and leave to come to the firehouse.”

Mentzer immediately rushed home to put on his gear. But firefighters had difficulty getting the equipment to the plant because there were so many sightseers.

“The place was just utter chaos. We walked up the hill. It was close to a mob,” Mentzer said. “I found my company, reported in and we were given a station to stand by the truck and wait for further orders.”

More than 150 volunteer firefighters from Harford and Cecil counties responded to the fire. Mentzer recalled seeing firefighters from Perryville, Aberdeen and Level.

“There was a lot black powder. We were cautioned not to go in certain areas because of the explosives,” Mentzer said. “Every once in a while, you’d hear an explosive go off and shot parts of the building up in the air and scattered debris a good distance away, probably about a quarter of a mile from it.”

It took several hours to get the main fire under control, Mentzer said.

“The rest of the evening, we spent time going building to building to make sure nobody was in it,” Mentzer said.

Later in the evening, 75 soldiers from Aberdeen Proving Ground moved in with a demolition squad to inspect the area, according to The Aegis. Both the Red Cross and the Salvation Army responded to the fire as well.

Firefighters remained at the scene until after midnight and returned early Wednesday morning.

Auxiliary police from Havre de Grace guarded the area to restrain people from getting too close to the scene and to prevent people from looting the houses that had been abandoned, according to The Aegis. Searchers spent the next day scanning the area for bodies.

Firefighters spent quite some time cleaning their equipment during the next couple of days.

“Each fire company had its own hose,” Mentzer said. “Water was scarce, but we were able to use what we had. There was a lot of cleaning to do with our equipment as well as putting out the fire scene.”

The fire company learned a great deal from the incident, Mentzer said.

“It really was not good for us, but it helped us on other fires and how to respond to them and take care of that,” Mentzer said. “That was a good thing.”

Joseph S. Lang, vice president of the fireworks company, told The Aegis the plant produced “safe and sane” firecrackers and had Interstate Commerce Commission designation covering such items as fountains and sparklers.

People who lived near the plant were concerned disaster would inevitably strike the plant one day.

Mrs. William E. Fletcher wrote letters to The Havre de Grace Record addressed to officials appealing for help. She had repeatedly warned people such a tragedy could occur.

The Aegis reported about $500,000 worth of damage, but The Havre de Grace Record reported close to $1 million.

Police Chief William Bullock told The Aegis the $500,000 estimate included the loss of the fireworks plant and damage to many houses in the area.

The force of the blast knocked those fleeing the area on their faces and showered them with debris, according to The Havre de Grace Record.

At least 16 houses in the area were badly damaged either structurally or in the interior. Some residents on the Chapel Road were temporarily evacuated.

Anna Coakley, 86, could see the smoke and feel the blast from her Chapel Terrace home. At first, she thought the impact was because of activity at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

“It shook some stuff off the shelves, that’s why I thought it was the proving ground,” Coakley said.

The Havre de Grace Record reported windows in widely scattered areas of town were blown out and children at the downtown elementary school came close to panic as the building was rocked by impacts of the blasts.

Harford County Executive David Craig was a sixth grader at Havre de Grace Elementary School 50 years ago and remembers the shock.

“When the explosion started, the windows and lights started shaking,” Craig, now 60, said.

Craig also remembers the event made national news and led to the official pronunciation of the city.

Jason Pate of radio station WASA was flooded with numerous calls from states including Minnesota, Florida and Idaho about the explosion.

But there was confusion regarding the proper pronunciation of Havre de Grace.

Craig said Pate went to the city council at the time and council members declared the official pronunciation everyone knows today.

Charlie Packard, president of the Susquehanna Hose Company, was a sixth grader at the then-new Meadowvale Elementary School when the fire happened.

“We heard it in school. It shook the whole building,” Packard, now 61, said. “I know people down in town had windows rattling and cracks and things like that.”

The windows of houses across the street were shattered, Packard said.

“I remember the fire engine sitting in front of my house all night long pumping water up there,” Packard said.

Mr. Fabrizio’s nephew also attended Meadowvale and Packard remembers a family member coming to take him out of school.

“Certain things stick in your mind,” Packard said.

Packard also remembers stories from older members in the company who responded to the fire.

“They were diving under equipment when the building first exploded,” Packard said. “The unit that came in before the first explosion came in for the fire, but it became a lot more than a fire.”

Jim Newby, spokesman for the city of Havre de Grace, was sitting in a classroom on the third floor at Havre de Grace High School when the explosion happened.

“It was a big surprise,” Newby, 67, said. “We heard a lot of big noises. We were in class and we jumped up and ran to the windows ... It was very scary, we didn’t know what was happening. Very unbelievable.”

Newby, who was 17 at the time, remembers that day as a sunny Tuesday afternoon.

“We could see the roof pop up before you heard the noise,” Newby said. “It was very unusual, very frightening.”

Jack McLaughlin, editor of the Harford Business Ledger, was a sixth-grader at St. Patrick’s Day School in Havre de Grace when the plant exploded.

The students had just returned from lunch when McLaughlin said he heard a loud rumble, similar to thunder.

“At the time, most of us didn’t think too much of it because Aberdeen Proving Ground was still busy with live fires,” McLaughlin, now 61, said.

Mr. Fabrizio’s son also went to St. Patrick’s Day School and a family member came to take him out of school, McLaughlin said.

“Word got out that something was wrong,” he said.

When school let out for the day, the students learned Mr. Fabrizio had died in the fire.

“That kind of dampened the school,” McLaughlin said. “... It caused a lot of sadness in the community.”

For years, the site of the plant was deserted.

“They couldn’t use the land for years for development because there were powders and things like that buried in the ground,” Madelyn Shank said. “But that’s since changed. Now there are a lot of houses there.”

Today, the previous location of the Havre de Grace Fireworks Company is home to Grace Manor.

In February 1960, The Havre de Grace Record wrote, “We think it would be unwise to have another fireworks plant in our midst.”

After that fateful day, the city never built another fireworks plant.

“I didn’t think they would,” Coakley said. “I don’t think the city would’ve allowed them to do that.”

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