The same reason it sometimes takes the electronic spark a dozen times to light a stove, BBQ grill or a space heater where as a match will light them quickly. or a lit cigarette with an ash in the end might be extinguished in a pail of gasoline but one with a glowing end will cause the vapors to explode its the size of the heat source and the concentration of the vapor molecules
For the firecracker descriptor, you could be partially correct, a M80 will destroy a large rural mailbox but will only deform or possibly split a sealed steel trashcan with the lid on tightly. A hand grenade could possibly displace a few of the timbers covering the pit but not to the level of the demonstration plus there would have been the danger of the shrapnel to the fool sitting in the chair.
Admittedly my explosives experience is based on limited training from 50 years ago but my vote still goes to some form of heavier than air volatile vapors and a large engough heat source to ignite them, for all we know they may have practiced this several times without the guy sitting in the chair before they felt they had a perfect combination
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