Safe Celebrations
The time of year when pyrotechnicians search for the perfect blue and the loudest salute is upon us: summer, the season for fireworks. In the fire service, it’s the season for fireworks safety.
Summer celebrations where you live may not match last year’s Statue of Liberty centennial, where eight tons of explosives were transported, stored, and shot, but any fireworks display presents hazards. A nice, small display might have 500 shells averaging half a pound of explosive powder each, says John Conkling, the executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. And demand has been on the rise for a decade: The APA reports that consumption, in pounds of explosive material, has doubled in that time.
From the time a truckload of explosives enters a fire department’s protection district to the time the last dud is pulled from the brush surrounding the display field, it’s the department’s job to prevent mishaps. Doing that requires knowledge of the classifications, regulations, local powers, and procedures involved. All the necessary information should be in your files before your department issues a display permit.
(Photos on this and previous page by Sam Pepper)
Several federal agencies enforce laws concerning the two classes of fireworks used in celebrations. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms regulates commerce and interstate transportation of what it calls low explosives, which include the Class B explosives used in public displays. To use the NFPA Fire Protection Handbook definition, Class B explosives include most propellant materials; although items in this class pose a high flammable hazard, they’re less of a threat than the maximum-hazard detonating materials of Class A. A multimillion-dollar bootlegging industry also sells Class B-sized fireworks, but illegally.
(The ATF warns against fire departments agreeing to store fireworks for display sponsors, a practice some rural departments in particular engage in to be helpful. Fireworks storage facilities must meet both federal and state standards.)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission oversees Class C explosives, such as firecrackers and bottle rockets, w’hich are intended for individual use and limited to 50 milligrams of explosive powder each. Class C explosives, as the NFPA Fire Protection Handbook explains, are manufactured articles such as fuses and detonating rivets. They contain some amount of Class A or B explosives, but aren’t likely to mass-detonate in a fire. Thirty-seven states allow the use of some form of Class C explosives.
Although fireworks use two different types of material to produce color and noise, there’s no difference in the hazards presented, says the APA’s Conkling.
To transport any class of explosives legally, a company must have a U.S. Department of Transportation permit. DOT also tests shells for heat tolerance. When preparing for a public display, a fire department should ask the fireworks company or pyrotechnician for the test reports (referred to by their “Ex” numbers) on each type of shell.
There’s no federal requirement that the transporter notify local authorities when the explosives are entering a town. As part of the permit approval for a public display, though, a fire department can insist on being notified. And to the extent possible, the department should be aware of shipments that are just passing through, so it can be prepared to arrange fire and police department escorts.
If the local jurisdiction issues strict guidelines for the vehicle, the industry will have to share the burden of safety. The vehicle’s operator should have the proper state and local licenses for handling explosives. The truck should be properly marked with DOT placarding, be in good mechanical order, and have a locking cargo area to protect the explosive materials against theft and tampering.
An overheated brake shoe or a car broadsiding a truck loaded with fireworks can set off a fire where the burning shells quickly light all the others in the shipment, so a pumper should escort every known fireworks truck traveling through your jurisdiction. To shift the cost onto the users, your department can bill the shipper or display sponsor for this service.
Safe transport is important for avoiding incidents on the road, but it’s after the fireworks are delivered that crowds of people in the area will be exposed to potential hazards. A pumper should always be on hand during a public display. Again the fire department can charge a user’s fee.
Site citations
As the issuer of display permits, a fire department also has the responsibility for making sure a proposed site is appropriate.
The diameter of the shells is one factor in determining this. Shells up to six inches wide demand a safety zone of at least 150 to 200 feet between the discharge and the audience. The distance should increase 100 feet for every additional inch of shell diameter. The safety zone distance is measured for all parts of the shooting rack or trough holding the shells, which may be 50 to 75 feet long.
These distances are just a rule of thumb, though. You should never think only in terms of minimum requirements. Look instead at the overall picture, taking almost a systems approach by accounting for the distance to nearby buildings, streets, and overhead obstructions such as trees and poles. On one inspection I made in New York City, the site fit the code’s distance requirements, but it just wasn’t appropriate for a fireworks display. It was a schoolyard across the street from an auto shop that stored compressed, flammable gases.
Other site factors include the anticipated size of the audience, access for emergency equipment response, the water supply on hand, the need for barriers or fencing, and the number of security personnel needed.
If the display site is offshore on a federal waterway, the U.S. Coast Guard will play a role. The fireworks company should produce permits from the Coast Guard: one for “marine transfer and transportation of explosives” and the other for a “marine event.” At the time of the display, the Coast Guard will close off the waterway and keep pleasure craft away from the display area. It can also be a source of wind and weather updates.
Permit Checklist
- Receive sponsor’s permit application in writing.
- Perform site inspection.
- Notify police, parks, and other local departments.
- Receive “letter of intent” from pyrotechnician, stating the contractor’s understanding of all regulations.
- Receive letters of permission or authorization from other agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Coast Guard.
- If display contractor doesn’t hold an annual, local license, require the company to submit a certificate of insurance naming the local government as an insured party.
- Schedule apparatus for the display.
- Schedule inspection time to monitor the set-up.
Sources
A fire department should take the initiative in designing fireworks permit procedures that meet local safety concerns. The National Fire Protection Association recommends practices in three standards: 1121L, “Model State Fireworks Law”; 1123, “Public Display of Fireworks”; and 1124, “Manufacture, Transportation, and Storage of Fireworks.” These provide a good foundation, but as the issuer of the permit, your department can strengthen them with virtually any reasonable constraint on the pyrotechnician.
The 180-member American Pyrotechnics Association has expressed its interest in working closely with the fire service. The APA represents manufacturers, importers, distributors, and operators working with both Class B and Class C fireworks. John Conkling, the executive director of this professional organization, reports there are about a dozen large display contractors that put on several hundred shows around the country per year. Other companies are local.
In either case, the contractors often hire from among the several thousand operators who work in other jobs full-time and shoot only a handful of displays each year. Several of the larger manufacturers and display contractors run schools for the shooters, Conkling says, and some states have testing and licensing procedures.
You can contact the APA for more information:
American Pyrotechnics Association P.O. Box 213 Chestertown, MD 21620 Phone: (301) 778-6825
With any display site, the Federal Aviation Administration should also be contacted. Some fireworks shoot as high as 1,500 feet; it’s not impossible for one to hit an airplane. Have the pyrotechnician get written clearance from the FAA for each display. The letter will usually contain specific instructions on which air control tower to notify, and when; it will also indicate a maximum height of discharge, which should be noted on the permit you issue. The FAA, like the Coast Guard, can also provide weather data.
For land-based displays, crowd control will always be a major concern. People tend to flock to the source of the fireworks rather than stay back a few hundred feet, where they can appreciate the show’s overall aesthetics. In New York City, the parks department erects snow fencing around the discharge site.
Fire, parks, and police personnel are assigned to the area for security and surveillance purposes from the moment the explosives are taken off the truck until the area is searched after the display and deemed safe. When especially large crowds are expected, the sponsor and the display contractor will hire private security forces to augment the city’s resources. If need be, your department can make this kind of arrangement a condition of the permit.
Inside the site, the fireworks industry takes on most of the burden of safety. The fire department should inform the display contractor of its fire prevention and safety requirements ahead of time to avoid misunderstandings.
Because mortars—the steel or cardboard tubes from which fireworks shells are launched—can split or shatter, the contractor must set them up safely. Mortars larger than six inches in diameter should always be placed in drums or troughs full of sand that will absorb the fragments and concussion. Reloading mortars, shot after shot, during a display may greatly increase the stress on them. Mortars used this way should also be in sand, regardless of the size of shell.
Although the pvrotechnician understands the occupational hazards of shooting fireworks, a fire department should be concerned with the shooter’s safety as well as that of the audience, ft can demonstrate this by insisting on electrical, remote firing, the safer, though more expensive, of two firing methods.
When firing by hand, a pvrotechnician physically lights a fuse and is right at the mortar when the shell is discharged. Remote firing is done from a control panel that’s normally a good distance away from the mortar racks or troughs. When the operator presses a button on the panel, an electrical current causes a squib to burst into flame and light a fuse. Remote firing should be mandatory for shells larger than six inches in diameter.
GLOSSARY
Bomb—A shell
Break and report—A shell that opens with a color effect and then produces a loud boom.
Bursting charge—Powder in the center of the shell which causes it to open rapidly.
Deflagration—Intense burning that produces a visible flame, such as a muzzle flash. Low explosives, such I as black powder, deflagrate.
Detonation — The immediate change of an explosive to gas because of a pressure wave, in which the explosive is completely vaporized before any gas can escape to reduce the pressure.
Flash powder—A combination of an oxidizer, potassium perchlorate, sulphur, and aluminum powder used in salutes and reports for a loud ‘boom’’ effect.
Flower pot—A shell that explodes in the mortar tube. Usually caused by an inadequate lifting charge or some other construction fault.
Lifting charge—A premeasured amount of black powder that will lift the shell to the desired height.
Mortar—A tube, usually of steel or cardboard, from which a shell is launched.
Mortar box—A box to place mortars into; usually made of wood and filled with sand.
Mortar rack—A rack used to support mortars; usually made of wood.
Multibreak shell—A shell that opens in the sky with many effects.
Report—Loud, cannon-type noise. Shell—Class B explosive; fireworks.
Single-break shell—Shell that opens in the sky with one burst or one effect.
Squib—A wire that has a chemical composition on one end and is connected to a fuse. When electrical current is supplied from the panel, the squib ignites, in turn lighting the fuse.
Stars—Small chunks or balls of chemical compounds that burn in different colors upon ignition from the bursting charge.
The pyrotechnician should provide fire extinguishers, as well as spotters with radios who will work in the audience area to spot fallout.
What falls to the ground can be as dangerous as what’s about to shoot into the air. A post-display check of the site is a must. We’ve often seen shells taken to their prescribed heights without bursting, only to return to earth like a stone instead of a sparkling cloud. During a public display in New jersey during the summer of 1984, a fourinch shell came down unexploded; it hit a woman in the shoulder and hit her son in the head, killing the child.
Because displays are conducted in the dark, the search for duds takes a concerted effort by the display contractor and local authorities. If a device is found, only trained pyrotechnicians with the appropriate state and local licenses should handle it. If an unexploded shell remains in the mortar and the fuse isn’t visible, flood the mortar with water. The shell might not be a dud—fuses sometimes slow to a crawl without going out.
We saw this during Liberty Weekend last year in Manhattan’s Central Park. The show was over and we started our search. Two minutes later, a four-inch shell shot up and burst, surprising even the pyrotechnician. As usual, we had maintained the safety zone after the display, so the surprise shell caused no injuries, just a few cheers and some applause from the departing crowd.
Your department can require the fireworks company to submit a post-display report within 24 hours of the show. This encourages pyrotechnicians to take a more active role in safety practices and shares the burden of responsibility with the display contractor.
