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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011
PAGE15
COMMUNITY
Fireworks show blasts off safely
BY LAURA ERDALL
lerdall@kansan.com
Gary Saathoff takes the mortar, a long pipe made of cardboard, and places it directly into the dirt. Next, the shell, which consists of a paper tube filled with stars and black powder, is placed into the pipe. He lights the fuse that fires a lift charge that launches the shell out of the mortar. When the firework reaches its desired height, the time fuse lights the bursting charge, causing the shell to explode. The explosion ignites the outside of the stars, which begin to burn with bright showers of sparks. The tremendous booms that the crowd hears are made of the rapid release of energy into the air.
Saathoff, president of the Lawrence Jaycees, has stood directly under the Fourth of July fireworks show since 1983, where he and a group of volunteers hand-light display fireworks for the residents of Lawrence.
This Fourth of July, Saathoff and nine other members of the Lawrence Jaycees will set off a fireworks display from a levee pit behind Johnny's Tavern North, 410 N. Second St. Matt Llewellyn, treasurer of Lawrence Originals, a group of locally owned, non-chain restaurants, will host a festival in Watson Park at 3 p.m. that will include food, drinks and live music. The event will run through the fireworks performance, which is expected to begin at about 9:45 p.m this Monday.
"Before the fireworks display starts, many people move across the street to Constant Park to watch the fireworks because it eliminates the trees and it's easier to see the Lawrence Jaycees light them off." Llewellyn said. For Lawrence's show, radio station Lazer 105-9 will choose the 45-minute American-themed music set with no commercial breaks.
The display usually lasts 45 minutes, but it takes several months to prepare. The Jaycees meet with Western Enterprises, a firework company in Carrier, Okla., to decide on the best show that they can give during the Fourth of July celebration. Saathoff said the size of the show also may be different this year. He said the group has raised about $13,000 this year,$2,000 more than last year's show, and the Lawrence Originals contributed $5,000 to the extravaganza. Since it raised more money, the fireworks display will be bigger, and will be firing off new and taller shells this year, but the Lawrence Jaycees don't know exactly what they'll deliver to the audience.
"The larger shells are equivalent to half a stick of dynamite and during the finale we will shoot off around 1,100 shells," Saathoff said. That's 550 sticks of dynamite. In 1913, an explosion of 530 sticks nearly destroyed Uniontown, Pa., a town of about 13,000 residents at the time, making this year's finale comparable to that explosion.
During the show, there is always one member of the Lawrence Jaycees guarding the shells in trashcans to keep them from exploding prematurely. A safety meeting is scheduled 30 minutes before the firework show to go over procedures and guidelines if anything were to go wrong during the celebration. The construction on a new hydroelectric plant on the North bank of the Kansas River in May brought minor issues for the Lawrence Jaycees.
"We just had to move certain items from the fenced in area," Saathoff said. "Fire marshals from the Lawrence fire department have to approve and inspect the site before any celebrations can begin anyways."
The Lawrence Jaycees use airtight lids to keep the shells concealed and wear ear plugs, eye protection, long pants and cotton shirts for safety purposes.
"In the last 28 years that I've been working on the fireworks show in
Lawrence, there have been close calls but no injuries," Saathoff said.
"That says a lot about what we do."
ACCEPTABLE ITEMS FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATIONS
PARTY POPPERS: A very small item of an explosive string device that is usually pulled to ignite.
SNAPPER: Small paper wrapped item which, when dropped,the device explodes
SNAKES, GLOW WORMS:
produces a snake-like ash
upon burning
SPARKLERS: Stick coated with pyrotechnic material that ignites to produce sparks
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