The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Fireworks: Trust the Experts!

Posted on | July 6, 2020 | 1 Comment

Every year around Fourth of July, we hear the same thing from police and other public officials: “Consumer fireworks are dangerous! Leave fireworks to the professionals!” These lectures are always most strident where consumer fireworks are illegal. In New York City this year Comrade De Blasio, who can’t do anything right, created “a multi-agency task force to crack down on illegal fireworks sales.”

But but but . . . I thought police were bad?

Isn’t that the whole point of #BlackLivesMatter? If Democrats want to “defund the police,” who are you supposed to call if people are setting off illegal fireworks in your neighborhood? But facts and logic have never counted for much with liberals. On the one hand, Democrats want a draconian regime of total government control, while simultaneously complaining that police — you know, the people who actually enforce all these government regulations — are brutal racists, because people of color get arrested for disobeying the law. But I digress . . .

The assertion that fireworks are so dangerous that they can only be trusted to license professionals is not a slam-dunk case, because sometimes the licensed professionals screw it all up:

Plano’s All American 4th fireworks show did not go off as expected Saturday night.
Around 9 p.m., about 19 minutes in the show that was being held on Lavon Farms, a 6-inch mortar exploded inside its launching tube resulting in a chain reaction of explosions from nearby mortars, according to Plano Fire-Rescue.
In videos posted to social media, fireworks appeared to also shoot off toward the crowd.
The show was stopped about six minutes prior to the grand finale.
No injuries or damage to structures were reported, but several acres of the field burned. It took firefighters about an hour to contain the blaze and extinguish the hot spots, the department said.

Watch the video:


Fortunately no one was reported injured by that mishap. During our show Saturday night in West Virginia, one 16-shot cake in the finale tipped over and sent a couple of shots sideways, but it went toward the back — away from the crowd — and caused no damage. Here’s a photo from the set up, showing my son and one of his friends at work:

 

Click the image to see full size. What they’re doing is using white “quick” fuse — which burns instantaneously — to connect two mortar racks to a finale board filled with repeater cakes. Video of the show is in two parts. Here is the first 10 minutes:

 

And here is the one-minute Grand Finale:

 

After the show was over, I was sitting down on the steps enjoying a cold beverage when a little girl walked by with her mother and the girl said, “That was epic!” That made all the planning worth it.




 

Category: Fireworks

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One Response to “Fireworks: Trust the Experts!”

  1. Wednesday Linkage « Bacon Time !!!!!!
    July 8th, 2020 @ 2:05 am

    […] Fireworks: Trust the Experts! […]