<span style="color: #222222;">At least 17 people were injured last night as a Los Angeles bomb squad botched the removal of improvised explosives seized along with thousands of pounds of illegal fireworks, officials said.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The blast blew the top off a bomb disposal truck and shot a fireball above the south Los Angeles neighborhood, according to video from local new channels.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">At a press conference, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michael Moore said that 10 responding officers and seven civilians had non-life-threatening injuries from the explosion, which damaged homes and blasted out windows in the neighborhood.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Moore said officers were responding to a call about illegal fireworks at a private residence when they found boxes of commercial-grade fireworks stacked eight to 10 feet high, and estimated to weigh up to 5,000 pounds stored on the patio.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The drought-plagued city of Los Angeles has launched a fireworks buyback program ahead of the holiday, hoping to stop the illegal sale and use of the banned explosives. Last year, the LAPD said it seized more than four tons of fireworks.</span><br />''  <br />