Published: July 01, 2009 10:18 pm         

July Fourth is like Christmastime for pyrotechnists

BRAZIL — Early July is like Christmas for folks in the business of shooting off big, loud, professional fireworks.

“We’re playing with bombs and we kind of like that,” said a smiling Jim Stanfill, a pyrotechnist for Aerial Arts Fireworks, based in Brazil. “Does anyone not like to play with bombs?”

Over the next few days, Aerial Arts will orchestrate fireworks shows all around the Wabash Valley and beyond. Dozens of “shooters” and other pyrotechnists will be lighting fuses, pressing firing buttons, loading mortars and standing clear as “shells” of different sizes explode, sending colorful — and powerful — fireworks high into the air.

“We stand right next to the [firing] tube when it goes,” Stanfill said. “The goal is to always try and keep something in the air.”

On the Fourth of July alone, Aerial Arts Fireworks, owned by Mark Adamson of Brazil, will be putting on fireworks shows in Terre Haute, Brazil, Montezuma and Sullivan and at Raccoon Lake. That day, the company will also host shows in far-away Gas City northeast of Indianapolis, Patoka Lake near Evansville and Hagerstown near Richmond.

“We all travel,” said Audra Wells, also of Brazil, as she worked with fellow pyrotechnist Jeff Foulke on Wednesday attaching electronic fuses to shells near the Aerial Arts “magazine” of hundreds of shells near the Vigo-Clay county line.

Wells will be the “head shooter” for Aerial Arts Fireworks at its shows in Montezuma and Hagerstown. Stanfill is the head shooter for the company’s biggest show in Terre Haute and Adamson is the head shooter for the show in Brazil.

To make a commercial fireworks display is a lot of work and very expensive. Apart from staggering insurance costs, the fireworks shells themselves are costly. Six-inch shells, which look like cantaloupe-sized bags of sugar with two large protruding eyes, cost up to $40 each while the biggest shells, measuring eight-inches across, cost up to $70 apiece, Adamson said.

The biggest show this Fourth of July season for Aerial Arts will be at Fairbanks Park in Terre Haute on the Saturday night. That show will include 1,700 shells with a 570-shell finale. The fireworks show in Brazil’s Forest Park will feature about 500 shells with a 360-shell finale. And the show at the Country Club of Terre Haute will have a 60-shot finale while a show at Sullivan County Park and Lake will have a 120-shot finale.

Working with powerful explosives is not just expensive, it’s dangerous. While no shooters — the people who actually light the long fuses attached to each shell — have been hurt in the past 20 years at Aerial Arts, there have been some close calls. Sometimes a shell will explode almost immediately after leaving the mortar tube, just a few feet from the shooter. Other times a shell may hit the ground in the firing zone and explode.

“That can set off the other shells,” Stanfill said, adding that most shooters have small burn marks on their shirts from years of standing close to exploding fireworks. “All of them are dangerous. All of them can hurt you,” he said.

Despite the danger, the pyrotechnists at Aerial Arts love what they do. And, like all performers, they take pride in putting on a good show and love a good audience. Adamson recalls putting on a show where the audience was so excited they cheered when he lit the flare used to light the fuses on the shells.

“We just love this stuff,” Stanfill said. “You’ve got to be half crazy and you’ve got to love it.”

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.





Be careful

• There was one death and 141 reported fireworks-related injuries in Indiana last year, according to the Indiana Department of Health.

• Of the reported injuries, 65 percent were burns, mostly to the hands. And 62.3 percent of the injuries were to young people — frequently with adults present.

• The most common home fireworks involved in injuries were firecrackers, rockets and sparklers.

Source: Vigo County Health Department

Check it out

• For more information on area attractions this weekend, visit www.lintonfreedomfestival.org, www.brazilrotary.org or www.wvha.info