Category: Fireworks

It Was Totally Awesome

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Supplies for the McCain family fireworks show, July 4, 2012 (click photo to enlarge)

FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
For the past two years, I had missed the annual family tradition of shooting off a crapload of fireworks on Fourth of July.  This year, however, we secured a shoot site and a sufficent stash to do it right.

Rather than just shoot a bunch of random stuff, my sons and I actually put together a show, using timed fuses to sequence the fireworks, with finale boards full of multi-shot aerial repeaters and racks full of 1.75-inch mortar shells.

This year’s show opened with a board of 12 fountains, followed by a board with six repeaters (106 shots total), then my sons fired two matching boards simultaneously (806 shots total), and then the one-minute finale: Three boards with a total of 811 shots, plus 96 mortar shells.

We used fast fuse (about 5 seconds per foot) on the finale and it all went up so quick that I didn’t even realize the mortar racks had fired until the finale was over. When fireworks are going off at the rate of about 15 shots per second, it’s kind of disorienting. In a good way.

It was an all-day job putting together the show — building boards, filling the racks, connecting fuses, etc. — and because it all had to be done outdoors, I sweated until my shirt was soaked clear through. I’m exhausted today. My legs and backs are sore from the constant stooping and bending, and even my fingers are sore because of splinters from the wood and so forth. But it was worth it for the look of joy on my sons’ faces as we exchanged high-fives afterwards. It’s kind of a male-bonding thing, a father-son tradition.

Unfortunately, in all the excitement, Dad forgot to get video of the show. So you’ll have to take my word that it was totally awesome.

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

Now THAT Is What I Call a ‘Finale’

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From Lancaster, Ohio’s 4th of July show:

That show was previewed by the local newspaper July 1:

“When that finale is done, the only thing you hear is the rip-roaring of the crowd,” [Hamburg Fireworks president Ken Sprague] said. “They’re saying, ‘Oh, my God,’ and, ‘Wow.’ The wow factor is huge.” . . .
Sprague said it’s difficult to say exactly how much firepower will be let off Monday. But the five-minute grand finale alone has more than 3,000 shots.
“The grand finale is what makes the Lancaster show so awesome,” Sprague said. “Every grand finale, in my opinion, should end with the big loud kabooms, or what we call salutes. It’s very intense at the end of the Lancaster show.”

Five minutes = 300 seconds, so the finale (which actually went for six minutes) averaged nearly 10 shots per second.

Of course, that’s a professional show, but you’d be amazed at what can be accomplished using ordinary consumer fireworks — if you use enough. And by “enough,” I mean Continue reading Now THAT Is What I Call a ‘Finale’ →

Legalize Fireworks Now!

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Maine’s York County Journal Tribune editorializes in support of a pending bill that would legalize consumer fireworks in that state, to which I say not merely yes, but hell, yes!

Consumer (1.4G) fireworks are much safer today than in the 1960s, when most state fireworks bans were passed. Back then, the great danger was M-80s — quarter-sticks of dynamite — which actually originated as military-issue ordinance used to simulate artillery blasts in training excercises. After World War II, many army surplus stores sold M-80s, and they became popular as fireworks, so that every so often some kid would blow off his fingers. Cherry bombs were another popular high-explosive firecracker, and it was the injuries caused by these that caused the panic that led to so many states completely banning fireworks.

M-80s and cherry bombs have long since been prohibited for sale to consumers by federal law, and yet many state anti-fireworks laws remain in effect, outlawing the beautiful aerial effects of rockets, mortars and multi-tube repeaters which — when used according to safety directions — are as no more dangerous than your backyard barbecue grill.

Professor Glenn Reynolds lives in Tennessee, where consumer fireworks have never been prohibited. This time of year, highways in Tennessee are lined with booths and tents selling fireworks by the truckload. Utterly contradicting the fear-mongering of the anti-fireworks fanatics, fireworks-related injuries are no more common in Tennessee than in states where fireworks are banned.

Why is this? Because when fireworks are outlawed, only outlaws will have fireworks. That is to say, prohibiting fireworks only tends to discourage their use by the responsible and law-abiding, while the rowdy scofflaws will find some way to get their hands on the stuff. Worse yet, sometimes bans on fireworks will cause idiots to try to rig up their own homemade fireworks, often with disastrous results.

Being a stone-cold fireworks freak myself, I’ve written extensively about this issue:

You can see some photos of me and the kids assembling the 2008 show here. Alas, my friend’s video of our 2008 show has been deleted, but here’s video of the 2009 show I shot at Camp FUBAR on Lake Weiss in Alabama (which starts getting good about the 3-minute mark):

And here’s the monster two-minute finale of the big 4th of July show I shot, with the assistance of my then 12-year-old twin sons, in 2005:

If the current “Make My Wife Happy” fundraiser is successful enough to pay the overdue bills — and many thanks to all the readers who have contributed so far — perhaps Mrs. Other McCain won’t mind if I take the kids on a little Alabama vacation for the 4th of July.

So hit the tip jar — it’s for the children (and maybe the fireworks, too).

VIDEO: Fun With Fireworks

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Watch this low-breaking shell set off car alarms:

Being a serious fireworks buff, let me explain what appears to have happened here: The shell was either fired from the wrong size mortar or else the lift charge was just weak, resulting in the “break” being at least 50 feet too low for safety.

Judging from the size of the break, I’d say that was at least a 3-inch shell, which is much larger than the largest consumer mortar shells (1.75-inch) sold in the U.S. There are consumer 3-inch shells, but they’re sold either in pre-loaded #500 tubes or in the so-called NOB (“nine on a board”) 500-gram finale racks, to avoid the risk of injury from idiots trying to re-load a “hot” tube.

The risk of injury from consumer fireworks, when used according to proper safety instructions, is really quite small, as I explained in a 2006 Reason magazine article, “Light Fuse, Get Away.” And as it’s now less than five months until the Fourth of July, its probably time for me to start planning my next big purchase for the annual Alabama show.

That’s the 2009 show. In 2008, I wrote an American Spectator article about my preparations for the show at Camp FUBAR on Lake Weiss.

Hit the tip jar — this year’s show is gonna be awesome.

Rednecks: A Global Phenomenon

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It’s like the punchline of a Jeff Foxworthy joke:

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) — Two people were killed and 223 have been injured in the Chinese capital amid traditional New Year fireworks frenzy that lasted from Wednesday evening to Thursday noon. . . .
On Thursday, Beijing dispatched more than 20,000 street cleaners after a night of fireworks. A total of 2,380 tons of exploded fireworks have been swept up by workers.

That there’s funny, I don’t care who you are.

VIDEO: Awesome Fireworks

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Being a total fireworks fanatic, I just have to share this video of the Bastille Day (July 14) show in Paris. It’s 31 minutes of pure awesomeness, although if you’re not as much into pyrotechnics as I am — and honestly, very few people are — you may wish to skip to the last couple of minutes for the finale. Click the full-screen version to really enjoy it.


L’intégralité du feu d’artifice du 14 juillet 2010
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And just in case you’re totally into it, here’s a 3-minute video of the pre-show set-up, with interviews of the pyrotechnicians — in French:


14 juillet : le feu d’artifice se prépare!
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My French is a little rusty, but I think what he’s saying is, “Yessirree, Bubba! This here’s gonna blow up real good!”

Here are three videos from a fireworks festival in Castro, a seaside town in the “boot heel” of Italy:

And, finally, a highlight compilation of some of the year’s best shows: