In my first year, the Diwali that we use to celebrate was not exactly what you will call enjoying a festival. It was more like a war. A war that was held between A wing and C wing. The rockets were not going up rather it was aimed towards the opponent. I was from the C wing. There were bombs that got exploded just above my head and some exploded right in front of me. It may sound dangerous but it was awesome. Some people actually got hurt in between these crossfire. Not only people some plants caught fire and it was actually threatening. The guards came and somehow managed to stop the fire from being a real problem. After the fire everybody was asked to leave the place.
And you are right that was the last time something of this sort happened. From next year onwards a particular place was chosen to blow the crackers. Also the crackers were brought by festival committee. It was ordered that no one should buy any crackers.
After the first year the festival was celebrated like a festival.
Also the festival committee conducted a puja before firing up crackers.