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Chattanooga: Families have blast setting up professional fireworks

By: Kathy Gilbert
(Contact)

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Captain Thompson

Thirty years ago, young Chattanooga Fire Department firefighter David Thompson and his friend, bookkeeper Mark Scott, saw an ad at the local fire station for pyrotechnicians.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘Boy, it’d be nice to do the real fireworks sometime,’ ” Mr. Thompson said.

The duo signed up, trained, then for three decades sent skyrockets flying at Fourth of July concerts, mall openings, Lookouts games and Riverbend.

“What’s not to like? It’s a boy’s dream of blowing stuff up without getting in trouble,” Mr. Thompson said.

Now a 56-year-old retired CFD captain, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Scott, along with their sons, daughters and sons- and daughters-in-law have traveled from Central America to Maine setting off colorful explosions made of metallic chemicals and old-fashioned black powder.

The Thompson family executes 20 to 30 shows and as many as 10 to 12 Fourth of July celebrations in one year.

Show prices range from $500 to $25,000.

Moonlighting helps pay the bills.

“I don’t know what my real position in life should have been, but this keeps me dry when it’s raining and hot when it’s cool,” said Mr. Scott, owner of Scott Bookkeeping in Brainerd.

Firing skyrockets also thrills the true fireworks fan.

“It’s making things go boom and seeing flashes and listening to the crowd go ‘ooo’ and ‘aah.’ It’s hearing the thunderous applause from thousands of people watching it,” Mr. Scott said.

Its glamour is not for everyone, though. Many people give up pyrotechnics after one or two shows.

Pyrotechnic work is messy, sticky, hot and dangerous.

Shells range from 1.5 inches to 12 inches. Even a 3-inch firecracker “can blow your head off,” said Mr. Thompson’s wife, LIbby Thompson.

Lighters crab along like old men to avoid losing limbs in the 45-degree “cone of danger.”

“I tell my crew ‘anything you put over the top of this, you’re going to lose,” said Mr. Thompson said, pointing to the business end of an upright tube from which fireworks explode as if from a cannon.

Bad shells sometimes shoot off in the wrong direction.

“If you hear the words ‘low shell,’ take cover,” said Sherry Thompson, Mr. Thompson’s daughter-in-law and a 34-year-old photographer and clerk for Kodak Rock City who leads a crew of three in setting of Lafayette, Ga.’s, Fourth of July fireworks this year.

Sparks rain, pricking the back of the neck and drilling holes in cotton clothing. Pyrotechnicians never wear polyester — it melts onto the skin.

Black soot from the rockets’ red glare piles up on the long-sleeved shirts, pants, boots, helmet, safety goggles, ear protectors and gloves fireworks handlers wear to ward off burns and deafness.

At the end of a show, fireworks technicians beg for baths.

“It gets damp and humid, and black powder gets all over everything,” Mr. Scott said. “By the time we get home, we aren’t fit to do anything but wash.”

Finally, pyrotechnicians miss their own shows.

“One of the bad things about it is that we love fireworks, but when we do the show, we can’t see the show,” Libby Thompson said.

Pyrotechnicians must pass a test to be licensed by the state of Tennessee and carry $2 million in liability insurance. To transport fireworks, a hazardous-materials endorsement must be displayed.

Working with fireworks professionally taught her to be cautious while having a blast, Sherry Thompson said.

“You have to respect the fireworks. They can hurt me, so I take extra precautions. I think that’s what makes a safe show,” she said.

Before each show, technicians also scout the area for fire hazards and monitor the site for fires.

His firefighting background comes in handy then, Mr. Thompson said.

“Nobody’s more safety conscious than a firefighter,” he said.

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