BATON ROUGE - The annual Fireworks on the Mississippi display was cut short this year due to a small fire on the launching barge. 

A Baton Rouge Fire Department said a boat is on the way to put it out. The fireworks show was scheduled to start at 9 p.m. and run until around 9:20. It stopped early, though, due to the fire. Fire officials said a trash pile on the barge was smoldering when firefighters arrived.

WBRZ General Manager Trey Schmaltz issued the following statement Tuesday evening:

A technical malfunction caused pyrotechnical engineers to stop the last few minutes of the fireworks display on the Mississippi River early Tuesday night.

It was a smarter decision to stop than attempt to continue the show, for everyone’s safety.

No one was ever in any danger, as our display is designed to be self-sufficient and safe for everyone, technical crew and observers alike.

Local fire officials say there may have been a small fire on the barge. Our expert firework team is still investigating and will know more tomorrow.

For more than 60 years, WBRZ has been proud to make sure there are fireworks to celebrate our nation's independence. We've funded the show since it started, and appreciate the concern about tonight's display.

The technical team we hired planned a robust show start to finish so no 'awe' was missed!