Let's All Learn About Fireworks!

July is America's most explosive month. It's when we (USA) celebrate our Independence Day. On this day in 1776, we said Thanks But No Thanks to our old overlords in Great Britain.

That's the original BREXIT, player. Considering that the United States is one Star Wars sort of weapon away from being to beat up every other nation on Earth at once, I'd say it's the important one, too.

We celebrate this move every July 4th. John Adams laid the groundwork in a 1776 letter to his wife, Abigail:

"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

We still follow the same basic blueprint today, and perhaps only the solemnity of his future office kept Adams from adding things like "stumble around drunk," "punch strangers" and "blow stuff up."

The technology was there in 1776. Gunpowder, one of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China (the others being paper, printing, and the compass), was first used for fireworks in China during the 7th Century Tang Dynasty. The ingredients are still basically the same today.... charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur.

They were originally worked into celebrations to frighten away evil spirits. Fireworks-making developed into a respected profession, and soon made it to the Arab world (1200s) and Europe (1700s). The Arabs gained them via Silk Road trade, while the Europeans learned of fireworks from missionaries. Peter the Great's ambassador was known to have raved to Peter about them.

Fireworks were in America before the Revolution. George Washington had a fireworks show at his inauguration. We were shooting them off to celebrate July 4th in 1777, six years before we knew if we'd beat the British in the Revolution or not.

They were wildly popular in America. For many years, fireworks were sold without regulation. Errors in both the manufacturing and the end-use processes led to numerous injuries. Injuries associated with July 4th fireworks (and gun-shooting, another popular way to celebrate July 4th back in the day) were frequent enough that a diagnosis of "patriotic tetanus" was developed and put into common use.

Fireworks use five ingredients to do what they do. They use fuel, an oxidizer, a binding agent, a chlorine donor (chlorine strengthens the color of the flame) and color-providing chemicals. Metals like lithium (red), sodium (yellow), calcium (orange), barium (green), copper (blue), iron (gold) and aluminum (white) are burned to create the colors you see.

If your memory stretches back to high school and you can remember Bunsen Burners, know that fireworks color moves along those lines. If you have access to pure copper and out it over a Bunsen flame, you'll get the same blue/green light that you see at a fireworks show. If you have some cesium kicking around, you can get a sort of indigo color akin to what you see when a skyrocket blows up. Remember to use small volumes of cesium, as skyrockets blow up in the sky (far away from the guy lighting them) for reasons of safety as well as reasons of aesthetics.

The key ingredient, of course, is gunpowder. Gunpowder is explosive, and therefore very dangerous. Since the danger exists, the government stepped in to protect Americans from themselves. Fireworks fall under the auspices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, aka the ATF. The Bureau had Firearms first for a while, but the resulting acronym drew an unfortunate comparison to expanding government.

Aluminium powder and potassium perchlorate are the main chemicals used in the flash powder for most commercial illuminating fireworks.

The laws governing fireworks vary from state to state. Delaware, New York, New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are the only states that ban the public from having any manner of fireworks. Maine, if I'm reading this right, only allows sparklers.

That's why the gods made New Hampshire, my friend.

New England, which looms large in history, is actually made up of six small states. The great state of Rhode Island is smaller than most counties in Texas. You can drive from a state where fireworks are illegal (like Massachusetts) to a state where they can be purchased freely (like, say, New Hampshire) rather easily. Throw in some free state-to-state border crossing, and it is quite easy to bring New Hampshire fireworks into Massachusetts.

There are other options. My dad, when I was little, used to go into Chinatown, pick up some Jackie Chan-looking guy on a street corner, hand him some money, get handed back a shopping bag full of fireworks, and then drop the dealer back off in Chinatown. He brought me with him once, I was very young, but remember it vividly. It was the same basic modus operandi I'd use hundreds of times later in life, getting weed.

Once you have the fireworks, be they from New Hampshire or the Chinese guy your father knows, it's time to take them home and blow them off/up. If you don't have some, worry you not... there are fireworks displays being put on by towns all over the state. "Explosives" are generally one of those areas where you want to let professionals handle things.

A list of these fireworks events, you say? Just happen to have one right here!

Some fireworks trivia for you:

- US citizens are not allowed to have fireworks with more than 50 milligrams of flash powder. Beyond that, you need a license. This law went into effect in 1975, which is why fireworks may have seemed louder when you were a kid... if you're old enough, of course.

- Fireworks-related injuries dropped by 70% after this law went into effect.

- A true M-80, which doesn't exist legally in the US (and hasn't since 1966), has between 200 and 300 mg of flash powder.

- Since they don't blow up in your hand, skyrockets, Roman Candles and so forth are allowed to have more than 50 mg of flash powder. Jason Pierre-Paul (see below) was maimed by a skyrocket.

- Skyrockets have two fuses, the one that shoots it into the air and the one that explodes the pyrotechnic.

- The first rockets had an open end on the tube, and would fly around randomly. Fins were later added to stabilize the flight. The fins on your commercial skyrockets today are not there for looks. Break the stick off of a bottle rocket, light it and drop it on the ground in front of you- the infamous (insert name of minority that you wish to offend here) Chaser- and you'll see destabilized rocket flight. People who study rocketry call these "Ground Rats."

- Several illicit fireworks manufacturers still make high-powered (over 500 mg of flash powder) fireworks. If you read about a shack exploding for non-meth reasons, it's often related to this field. Illicit M-80 manufacturing rose up after the 1975 ban on higher-powered civilian fireworks. An explosion of such a place in Benton, Tennessee damaged homes for miles around, and could be heard 20 miles away.

- Contrary to popular belief, a cherry bomb or a M-80 with illegal levels of flash powder is not a quarter stick of dynamite. Dynamite uses nitroglycerin, while fireworks use less-explosive black powder.

- Aside from the USA and July 4th, other nations use fireworks to celebrate New Year's, Halloween (Ireland), their own Independence Days and other important events. England uses them for Guy Fawkes Day, which is ironic because Fawkes was planning to blow up Parliament or some other funk band.

- Fireworks shows in the US used to last an hour, but they average 20 minutes per show now.

- A string of firecrackers lit in 1996 for Chinese New Year in Hong Kong lasted for 22 hours.

- Arabic people refer to fireworks as "Chinese Arrows."

- Many airports use fireworks to scare away birds.

- Disney's nightly fireworks shows use less-polluting compressed air in place of gunpowder. Otherwise, accumulated explosive pollutants would eventually destroy their lakes and perhaps cause an explosion.

- Keith Moon of The Who was introduced to cherry bombs in the 1960s. He soon developed a love of dropping them in hotel toilets, often causing thousands of dollars worth of damage. Moon is, even in death, banned from the Holiday Inn, the Hilton, the Waldorf Astoria and the Sheraton chains.

I work for a Choice Hotel franchise, and we have a list of persona non grata guests posted on the wall who are forever banned from the premises. Moon's name is on it, right between the name of the guy who killed his girlfriend and shot a Bourne cop (Adrian Loya) and Ron Mott, an NBC reporter who had a mental breakdown in our lobby and had to be removed by the Bourne police department. Keep in mind, Moon died in 1978.

One time, Moon was listening to his own band's records in a hotel. A hotel manager came up to him and asked him to "turn down that noise." Moon immediately got up, threw a stick of dynamite into the toilet, destroyed the hotel's plumbing system, and turned back to the hotel manager. "THAT, my friend," he said, pointing to the bathroom, "is noise. The music is the 'oo."

- Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Peter Criss of KISS each had M-80s thrown at them by fans during shows. Criss was partially deafened.

- NY Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, an All Pro level pass rusher, lost fingers on his hand while trying to light a skyrocket. This is a bad thing to have happen when your job is grabbing people.

- Hunter S. Thompson requested that, upon his death, he be cremated. He then wanted his ashes loaded into a artillery shell and exploded over the Rocky Mountains. Johnny Depp stepped in, and Thomson's ashes were built into a cannon shell and blown up as part of a big fireworks display during his funeral.

Here are some common fireworks classes:

Class 1.1G (Mass Explosion Possible:Pyrotechnics) UN0094 Flashpowder

Class 1.1G (Mass Explosion Possible:Pyrotechnics) UN0333 Fireworks (Salutes in bulk or in manufacture)

Class 1.2G (Projection but not mass explosion:Pyrotechnics) UN0334 Fireworks (Rarely used)

Class 1.3G (Fire, Minor Blast:Pyrotechnics) UN0335 Fireworks (Most Display Fireworks) Current federal law states that without appropriate ATF license/permit, the possession or sale of any display/professional fireworks is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

Any ground salute device with over 50 milligrams of explosive composition

Torpedoes (except for railroad signaling use)

Multi-tube devices containing over 500 grams of pyrotechnic composition and without 1/2" space between each tube

Any multiple tube fountains with over 500 grams of pyrotechnic composition and without 1/2" space between each tube

Any reloadable aerial shells over 1.75" diameter

Display shells

Any single-shot or reloadable aerial shell/mine/comet/tube with over 60 grams of pyrotechnic composition

Any Roman candle or rocket with over 20 grams of pyrotechnic composition

Any aerial salute with over 130 milligrams of explosive composition

Class 1.4G (Minor Explosion Hazard Confined To Package:Pyrotechnics) UN0336 Fireworks (Consumer or Common Fireworks) Most popular consumer fireworks sold in the US.
Reloadable aerial shells 1.75" or less sold in a box with not more than 12 shells and one launching tube
Single-shot aerial tubes

Bottle rockets

Skyrockets and missiles

Ground spinners, pinwheels and helicopters

Flares & fountains

Roman candles

Smoke and novelty items

Multi-shot aerial devices, or "cakes"

Firecracker packs (see this link for various brand/label images). Although some firecracker items may be called "M-80's", "M-1000's", "Cherry bombs" or "Silver Salutes" by the manufacturer, they must contain less than 50 milligrams of flash or other explosive powder in order to be legally sold to consumers in the United States.

Sparklers

Catherine wheel

black snakes and strobes

Mines

Fireworks Schedule For Southeastern Massachusetts

June 25, 2016
Braintree - 6/25/2016 Braintree High School Soldiers Salute at 9:30pm & Fireworks at 10:00pm
Hanover 6/25/2016 at dark for Hanover Days
Milton 6/25/2016 9:45 PM 2 Barges in Neponset River – 1 Granite (Rain Date 6/26/2016)


June 26, 2016
East Harwich 6/26/2016 9:00 PM One barge in Pleasant Bay – On Pleasant Bay (No Rain Date)

June 30, 2016
Somerville 6/30/2016 9:15 PM Trum Field – Franey Road (Rain Date 7/7/2016)

July 1, 2016
Mashpee 7/1/2016 9:30 PM Mashpee H.S. – 500 Old Barnstable Rd (Rain Date 7/2/2016)
Taunton 7/1/2016 9:00 PM Hopewell Park – 15 Hamilton Street (No Rain Date)
Worcester 7/1/2016 9:30 PM East Park, Shrewsbury Street

July 2, 2016
Boston Harbor 7/2/2016 9:00 PM Long Wharf (Boston Harborfest)
Halifax 7/2/2016 9:00 PM Halifax Elementary School Field – Plymouth Street (Rain 7/9/2016)
Hingham 7/2/2016 9:00 PM Button Island – Hingham Harbor – 3 Otis Street (Rain 7/3/2016)
Orleans 7/2/2016 9:00 PM Barge off Rock Harbor Beach – Bay View Drive (Rain 7/3/2016)

July 3, 2016
Attleboro 7/3/2016 9:20 PM Parking lot at Cyril Brennan Middle School (Rain Date 7/5/2016 )
Duxbury Beach 7/3/2016 Dark, various illegal citizen bonfires and unlicensed pyrotechnics
East Harwich 7/3/2016 9:15 PM 1 Barge in Pleasant Bay – On Pleasant Bay
Freetown 7/3/2016 8:00 PM Hathaway Park – Carleys Way (Rain Date 7/9/2016)
Middleborough 7/3/2016 10:00 PM Battis Field – Pierce playground – Jackson Street (Rain 7/5/2016)
Randolph 7/3/2016 9:30 PM Randolph H.S. baseball field – 70 Memorial Parkway (Rain 7/5/2016)
Sharon 7/3/2016 9:30 PM Barge on Lake Massapoag – 50 Beach Street (Rain Date 7/10/2016)
Stoughton 7/3/2016 9:30 PM West School Athletic Complex – Pearl Street (Rain 7/8/2016)
Walpole 7/3/2016 9:30 PM Joe Morgan Memorial Field – 220 School Street (Rain 7/6/2016)
Weymouth/Quincy 7/3/2016 9:15 PM Barge off Wessagusset Beach – 555 South Street (Quincy) – Wessagusset Road (Weymouth) (Rain 7/5/2016)

July 4, 2016
Arlington 7/4/2016 (Big screen viewing of Boston Pops Concert & Fireworks) 6pm; 8:30pm Concert viewing & 10:30pm fireworks viewing
Bellingham 7/4/2016 9:00 PM Bellingham H.S. – 60 Blackstone Field (Rain Date 7/5/2016)
Boston 7/4/2016 8:30pm Pops Concert - 10:30pm Fireworks Hatch Shell Esplanade
Bridgewater 7/4/2016 9:30 PM Legion Field – 200 South Street 7/5/2016
Canton 7/4/2016 9:15 PM Irish Cultural Ctr. – 200 New Boston Rd
East Harwich 7/4/2016 9:15 PM 3 Barges off Wequassett Inn – On Pleasant Bay (Rain 7/5/2016)
Edgartown 7/4/2016 9:15 PM Edgartown Harbor – Oak Bluffs Ave. (Rain 7/5/2016)
New Bedford 7/4/2016 9:00 PM Barge in New Bedford Harbor – 7 Fish Island (Rain 7/5/2016)
Provincetown 7/4/2016 9:00 PM MacMillan Pier (Rain Date 7/5/2016)
Plymouth 7/4/2016 ~9:00-9:15PM Plymouth Waterfront
Salem 7/4/2016 ~9:15pm at Derby Wharf

July 9, 2016
New Bedford 7/9/2016 9:15 PM Walsh Athletic Fields – 328 Parker St. (No Rain Date)

The Dying Of The Light

Duxbury Beach, MA

July 4th is a special day in America. On that date in 1776, our Founding Fathers signed a Declaration of Independence from their English colonial masters. This declaration led to a lengthy Revolution which chased those Limey Poofters back to their silly little island, and it led to the birth of the United States of America.

One thing those Founding Fathers did right was that whole America thing. They did it so well, we're still celebrating. This is Independence Day #239 (ed. note: This is a 2015 article), and we should get a few more in before the Chinese call in their markers.

Until that day comes, we shall celebrate July 4th. The basic plan for celebrating our national birthday was laid down in 1776, by John Adams.

" I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

The last sentence of that statement is still the basic blueprint we follow today. If you have a bonfire, watch some TV, play some horseshoes, catch a baseball game, hit the gun range, attend Mass, and then go to a fireworks show.... John Adams called that shot 238 years ago, most likely right off the top of his head, too.

Today, we are going to focus on that Bonfire aspect. If you went on Family Feud and Steve Harvey asked you to name ways we celebrate July 4th, "Fireworks" would be #1, "Parades" would be #2... and after that, although it's a close race with "Cookouts," #3 would be "Bonfires."

Bonfires precede America, and actually go back to Caveman times. The English we chased away do a Guy Fawkes fire, and that tradition came to America with the settlers. George Washington himself denounced the practice, calling it a "ridiculous and childish custom." They got away from George's admonitions by just shifting the fires to July 4th.

Now, you may wonder how this tradition was allowed. London, Chicago, San Francisco, Lisbon and many other cities had been destroyed by fire. You are forgetting how hardcore Americans are. In 1903, there were 400 deaths and 4000 injuries nationwide relating to July 4th celebrations, most from children shooting firearms off. It was bad enough that doctors at the time regularly offered a diagnosis of "patriotic tetanus" for early July injuries and deaths. Your second leading cause of Patriotic Tetanus were injuries inflicted by Remember-the-Maine era recreational gunpowder fireworks.

Compared to missing limbs and children with guns, the idea of pushing the local rowdies onto an isolated beach with no combustible vegetation for a bonfire seemed like a pretty good idea. Fireworks were prohibited in most states, and fireworks shows became the realm of the municipality... or the realm of the guy willing to drive to New Hampshire and maybe smuggle back a little somethin-somethin'.

Some towns even took over the running of the bonfires, or banned them altogether. Boston took over the bonfires in 1915, and other towns followed suit. This gave the towns authority over July FOURTH fires, a distinction we'll discuss in a moment.

Gradually, the practice of bonfires faded away, especially in the west and mid-west parts of the country, which were tinderboxy after the Dust Bowl droughts. However, one section of the country, and you can probably guess who it is, held on tightly to the tradition. New Englanders are good like that. John Adams didn't invent those celebrations we quoted him on before. He just described the typical New England celebration.

Salem, known for her witches and hunts, is also known as the town who got the most into it. Cathedral-sized bonfires were regularly assembled on Gallows Hill, as the leftover wooden trash of both the shipbuilding era and the industrial era was regularly stacked and ignited. You can see a ten story bonfire on Gallows Hill right here.

However, Salem's fires were on an inland hill, so- as large as they are- they don't really count. We're talking about beach fires, and July 3rd.

New England's coastal residents resisted the town's claims on bonfires. They didn't beat cops or secede from the towns, although that wasn't very far away in some situations. They just took over a different night. It makes pretty good sense. If the town is having an official fire on the 4th, why not have one on the 3rd? Sh*t, you have the 4th off, and you need that down time after the 3rd. Gradually, the date of New England citizen fires shifted almost entirely to July 3rd.

I grew up on Duxbury Beach, which has a tradition of bonfires stretching back to her very inhabitation by white folk. You can get stories from the Old School about bonfires 100 feet high in celebration of VE and VJ Day. I can kick it from the 70s (this is Steve, by the way... Jessica, who is from Fairhaven, is visiting family in Florida this week), and our fires were giant and annual. They even did some good.

Beach communities suffer from nor'easters. Nor'easters aren't as bad as hurricanes, but hurricanes don't hit 2 or 3 times a winter. Nor'easters tear down decks, carry away stairs, smash up wooden lobster pots, expel driftwood, and generally clutter up the beach. Beach communities also "suffer" from gentrification, where yuppies buy up old people's summer cottages and build larger, year-round homes.

Much like the people of Salem, Duxbury Beach folk would feast upon the bounty of a bygone era. All of that wood was gathered up, de-nailed, and stacked in a sort of tipi-like structure. We built tipis instinctively, with not a Wampanoag among us. We didn't even have a Hindu-style Indian. By doing so, we cleared the neighborhood of clutter.

I was in charge of bonfire construction by the time I was 10, although by the time I was 10, I was nearly 6 feet tall and was frequently mistaken for a youthful-looking and somewhat slow adult. By the time I was able to drive, I would take a truck around the neighborhood, gathering wood. I would frequently have all of the neighborhood's children following me and helping as best they could. The tallest piece of wood became the center beam of the tipi, and everything else was stacked. I then soaked it in gas (even at 10 years old, I was in charge of this... remember, this was the 1970s) and ignited it by firing a Roman Candle into it from 20 feet away.

I later learned that I was not trusted with this responsibility because of the strength of my character, but rather because I was too young to be tried as an adult.

The town barely interfered. A cop- usually the late, great "Dirty" Harry Levine, who was a teacher in town during the winter- would wander over as the huge pile of wood began to appear on the beach. He made a point of loudly appreciating that we had a crew removing nails from the wood. He also would state that bonfires were illegal, the charge would be Disorderly Conduct, and that he would arrest us in an instant if he saw us lighting it. Harry also had 6 miles of beach to patrol, and you could easily track his location if you gave a kid some binoculars. Once he was X miles away at low tide, we had X minutes to assemble and ignite the conflagration.

Throw in a wealthy neighborhood (the typical ritual was that every house kicked in a $100, and someone went to New Hampshire... although my Dad was a Dorchester kid, and got his fireworks the Old School way, in Chinatown), and placid Duxbury Beach for one night would resemble Fallujah. The wood supply was enough that a mile stretch of Duxbury Beach and Green Harbor might have a dozen 25 foot fires, and copious fireworks explosions completed the illusion.

Duxbury Beach on the 3rd of July is probably my favorite place on Earth. I'll be there tonight, good Lord willing. The Lord is going to weigh heavily in tonight's celebration, as a dry neighborhood of wooden houses and crisp vegetation will host a series of drunk-powered fires (the passing of the Baby Boom emptied the neighborhood of children, and we tend to have smaller fires in larger quantity) as a stiff wind blows the sparks at the houses. Only the grace of God will keep the sparks off of the roofs, although the sea breeze goes away if you wait until dark to light the fire.

The funny part of the drunks-building-bonfires dynamic is that there has never been a fire related to the July 4th celebrations. Duxbury (the town) had their own fires for a while, and nearly torched the elementary school once in the late 1980s. Yes, a bunch of children and drunkards have never neared causing damage with their fires, while the town's DPW and fire department nearly burned down a the school and the library.

Other towns are not as fun as Duxbury.  Marshfield nixes fires, although it's a big town with a lot of beach and the locals still blaze one up now and then. Hull, Cohasset, and Kingston also disallow them. Quincy is in the papers this morning, as the fire chief is weighing the possible outcomes of drunken Hough's Neck fires in high winds near a densely packed urban area. 

Plymouth still has fires, as Manomet bonfires go back to the 1800s, and White Horse Beach can claim a 1777 starting date. Plymouth tried a ban in the 1980s, and police were pelted with rocks and fireworks by locals who didn't get a say in the decision to ban. Civil disobedience acts like building a pallet structure and not igniting it as an homage to bygone days began to spring up.Scituate made the papers when they put the Whammy on bonfires, and Humarock almost seceded from the town over it after police roughed up a 70 year old man in a confrontation.

I never made it to the Cape for the 3rd as a kid, and thus am publishing South Shore stories in a Cape Cod paper with not a single idea of how Cape Cod gets down on the 3rd. I suppose I can call some police departments, and maybe I will, but I don't like to draw attention to myself.

OK, I called Bourne PD, got a befuddled dispatcher, and she said no fires, no permit for fires, and she wasn't sure if any neighborhoods frequently violate the law. I'd guess that Scusset Beach might try something. Monument Beach, Pocasset, Cataumet and Mashnee are also fine spots for a little civil disobedience.

I called Sandwich, and it went straight to voice mail. Same with Falmouth. Brewster had an operator who transferred me to a Captain (while on hold, BPD plays rock music over the phone to me), and I went straight to his voice mail. I wasn't going to call 911 over it, so you'll just have to take your chances, people.

Duxbury, in theory, allows a bonfire with a $25 permit. I don't live there now, and I'm not sure who builds the fires on Duxbury Beach these days. Maybe I'll get to see the cops beat down some 2015 version of me. I'll get a few laughs out of it, but I'll also feel a bit winsome, as I'll be watching a centuries-old tradition die in front of me.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."