End of drought could mean booming fireworks sales
Monty Griffin pulls The Sword from a middle shelf at his Alamo Fireworks stand.
The green plastic, toylike pyrotechnic is about the size of a child’s baseball bat and features a wide but harmlessly blunt blade and a medieval-style handle. A long fuse protrudes from the pointed tip of the faux weapon.
Griffin, an Irving teacher who moonlights at a fireworks stand on Rendon-Crowley Road east of the Fort Worth city limits, said he thinks the $4 item will be a hit with children.
“It shoots sparks out the end, and afterward they can still fight with it,” he says, laughing and waving the sword in a mock sparring move.
Griffin and other fireworks hawkers are hoping for spectacular sales this Independence Day season, which runs from Wednesday to midnight Saturday.
After dealing with drought and accompanying wildfire hazards across the state during the past four years, the pyrotechnics industry is ready for a rebound year, one in which folks feel like they can let loose without worrying about burning anything down.
For all of North Texas, the drought is now just an unpleasant memory. Less than 5 percent of the state is in drought compared to 89 percent a year ago.
“By the end of May, it was gone from North Texas,” said Lamont Bain, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “The fire weather concerns are pretty low with the saturated soils. Some of the fuels can still burn, but the rate at which they’re going to burn should keep them from spreading rapidly.”
Chester “Red” Davis, president of the Texas Pyrotechnics Association, said the timing of July Fourth this year is also good.
“The fourth falls on a Saturday this year giving Texans the opportunity to purchase and shoot fireworks on both Friday and Saturday,” said Davis, who operates American Fireworks in Bastrop. “Plus, for the first time in a long time because of recent rains, people won’t be so concerned about starting a fire when shooting fireworks.”
Stands moving further out
About 60 fireworks stands are licensed to operate in Tarrant County, more than half of them in the county’s southeast quadrant, along corridors such as Rendon-Crowley Road between Fort Worth and Mansfield. Other stands can be found between Fort Worth and Weatherford and on the fringes of Tarrant and Denton counties.
In some areas, residential and commercial growth have pushed fireworks stands further out. In Roanoke, for example, the town annexed the remaining extraterritorial property on its outskirts several years ago, forcing three popular fireworks stores to move, Mayor Scooter Gierish said.
The businesses were given a grace period and completed their moves out of town about a year ago, he said.
But even as the stands move further away from cities, there is no sign they are going away anytime soon.
Within hours of the stands’ opening Wednesday, residents began arriving to load up on smoke bombs, fountains, firecrackers and other flammable fare.
“I like the big artillery wheels, the ones that go up in the sky,” said Armando Garcia, 13, a south Fort Worth resident who traveled with his family to an Alamo Fireworks stand in southeastern Tarrant County last week to load up on rockets, fountains and a sparkling fountain with explosions contraption called Cardiac Arrest.
“I just like popping them, lighting them up,” he said.
While some residents at the fireworks stand confided that they intended to pop their fireworks illegally at their homes in the city, Allison Ferguson said she and her husband and young children are looking forward to celebrating the Fourth in their new rural home outside Burleson.
“We’ve always lived in the city limits as long as we’ve been married, so we’re excited to go out and play,” she said. “We would go out and watch the big public displays when there wasn’t a drought, but now with all the rain we can do it at home.”
Fire hazard still exists
Residents should be aware that wildfires can still occur, said Tarrant County Fire Marshal Randy Renois.
“If you have an area that has recently been mowed, the cuttings can dry out and if they’re still on the ground they can start a fire,” said Renois, whose usual advice is for residents to take in one of the professionally run fireworks displays in cities throughout the region rather than light their own.
He also said many residents misunderstand where they can legally light fireworks. Most all cities in Tarrant County prohibit fireworks within their limits, and although it is legal to shoot fireworks in unincorporated portions of Tarrant County and most other area counties, it can only be done with the property owner’s permission.
Gordon Dickson, 817-390-7796
Fireworks safety
Here are fireworks safety tips based on interviews with Tarrant County Fire Marshal Randy Renois and others.
▪ Consider visiting a professional display at a sports venue or city park. Professional displays are safe and usually free, while purchases at fireworks stands can set you back several hundred dollars.
▪ Don’t shoot fireworks in the city. It’s illegal in most municipalities in the Fort Worth area and officials in many places are known for writing tickets.
▪ Find a remote spot and get the owner’s permission before lighting up. It’s legal to shoot off fireworks in unincorporated parts of Tarrant County and many other area counties, but only if you have been invited onto the land. Also, when you’re done pack out all your trash.
▪ Avoid shooting fireworks toward vehicles, or within 100 feet of a place where fireworks are sold or flammables are stored. Also, avoid firing within 600 feet of a church, hospital or child care center.
▪ Don’t let children light fireworks unsupervised. Most fireworks injuries are suffered by minors.
▪ Don’t be surprised if some fireworks malfunction. If you light a dud, leave it alone for at least 20 minutes, and douse it with water before throwing away.
▪ Be considerate of pets and livestock, which are easily agitated by popping and whistling noises.
Hot sellers
So what are some of the goodies for sale this year? They range from tiny little poppers that only cost a buck or two to elaborate displays that can go on for several minutes, wowing entire neighborhoods. Here’s a sample:
▪ Fierce Fury is a pricey $149. According to the wording on the box ,it includes “192 powerful, sweeping colors, crackles and reports. Then fan volleys of huge, loud breaking shells filling the sky.”
▪ An 8,000-firecracker wheel, which sells for $89, is “bigger than a steering wheel,” Griffin said. Firecrackers can be lit individually, but if ignited all at once on the wheel, “they make a hole in the ground,” he said.
▪ Earthquake, a package of a dozen rockets, each of which bursts with a different set of shapes and colors, sells for $34.
▪ For those who like a more humorous approach, there’s the $4 Dumpy Dog, a cardboard cutout of a cute pooch with a fuse protruding from beneath the tail. Once the device is lit, the dog appears to leave flaming droppings, and when he is done the remains snuff themselves out with a few low-volume pops.
“One woman came by and saw that, and she wouldn’t let her grandson buy it,” Alamo Fireworks stand operator, Jerry Mason said.
This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 3:02 PM with the headline "End of drought could mean booming fireworks sales."