Monday, July 3, 2017

Pyrotechnics Up Close.

I am in Ayala Park, Chico, completely surrounded by a 10' fence.   We are in an abandoned putting green,  with weeds growing through the fake grass, and ground squirrel holes everywhere.  No one unauthorized is allowed in.

I am watching Trevor and a crew of about 15 people busily setting up the evening's fireworks display.  It is a complex business involving specially constructed crates filled with tubes into which an appropriately numbered 'cake' is placed.  Each cake must be wired to a control board placed nearby, one board for each crate.  All the control boards are wired to trace back to a master station set far back from the explosive area.  Each must be correctly numbered, wired and traced.  No mistakes.  This takes most of the morning, but it is a beautiful sunny day,  and after awhile I walk around the perimeter of the fence to watch several girl's baseball teams.   One team has a red knee socks on the right legs,  blue on the left.  They do various exercises, sound off the team cheer, and then take turns at batting practice.  They are GOOD!

When I go back to the canopy where my deck chair is waiting, Ed, the boss, in a bright orange tee shirt, is bringing on lunch.  He has cooked some  BBQ pork in a slow cooker, and serves it with baked beans, macaroni and potato salads, and lots of fruit.  We are all invited to dig in.  It is delicious.

By about 2:00 PM everything is wired, inspected and ready to go.  The crew comes and goes, to their trucks or vans, or home if they live close by.  One crew member has come from Arizona. She shows us a beautiful beetle, blue and green iridescence, that is hanging out on her hat. The trained crew are a mix of young and old, male and female, with interesting backgrounds.  One man, who had worked at Disneyland for several years, regaled us with some fascinating behind-the-scenes stories.   We stroll over to the other side of the fence where the fair goers have come by the hundreds to enjoy family BBQs, kiddie rides, and a live band.  

At dusk it begins to cool.  Fortunately Trev had brought me his leather jacket. At about 7:30 things get serious.  Two beautiful young women show up in uniform.  They are the Fire Marshals!   The Marshals are fed some BBQ pork and inspect the array.  

At about 8:35 things get serious.  We gather behind the master station, standing, in case we have to run.  We wear hard hats, safety goggles and flame resistant clothing. The master panel is numbered and has been wired for 350 individual launches to be fired in sequence at the command from the fairground director on the other side of the fence.  A voice comes through the speaker, '20 seconds to start'.   Then on a signal, No 1 is fired.  Then No 2.  and steadily on through the sequence.  The crowd can hear synchronized music with the bursts.  We can only hear the instructions...No 266,  No 267.... to the grand finale.

The experience is like no other.  You are right in it, with the sweep of sky above your head filled with colored stars falling down on you like fairy dust.  At the end,  plumes of dazzling white light fill the sky.  The crowd screams.  It is a complete success!

Then the clean-up.  The area must be checked for smouldering patches to be extinguished.  A metal detector is rolled over the ground,  the crates are disassembled and residue thrown away in safe containers.  The astro turf is carefully raked.   In about an hour the field has been restored to its former state, and everything has been loaded onto Ed's van.  We can go home. 

Thank you, Trev, it was incredible!