Henderson Bay shoot - July 3rd
The last three years I have gone to Gasworks Park in Seattle for the 4th (last year here), which has been nice because they put on a very good show, but why watch fireworks when you can help shoot them?
This year I helped on a show with Wolverine, shot in Henderson Bay, WA. Setup started on the 2nd and I had work that day, so I missed the crappy job of setting up the boxed with tubes and sand. On the 3rd when I got there that was done, so this day was for loading product. The barge was loaded in the Port of Tacoma, then towed to the site.
This show started as a private show by a guy (Richard) who shot it himself, then decided that caused him to miss his own party and would rather have somebody else shoot it. He is licensed and designed the whole show himself. He has a house on the water and hosts a party, with everyone else in the bay getting a good show too. This year he got contributions from neighbors since they benefit as well, so I'm sure that was a big help.
The barge was "docked" in a pretty run down area and we had to jump a couple gaps to get to our barge, which meant we had to be very careful moving product so we didn't drop something or fall in. I never saw the ramp moved (front of the barge in the above picture) but I'm told it worked... Behind is the Fury, the tug that moved us around. I forget the captain's name, but he was a pretty cool guy.
The weather was gray and overcast to start, so luckily we were prepared for rain with three pop-up tents and plenty of plastic sheeting, so we could work under a tent on a box, cover it in plastic, and move to the next. By the end of the day things cleared up and I got a little sunburned...
I don't remember the shell count, but we had everything from 2.5" salutes up to a few 8" shells, plus cakes, fountains, 3" and 4" mines, 3" comets, and strobes. We stared with the smallest stuff because that meant the most wiring. Everything was marked, but it was sometimes a challenge to find the right tube and matching shell. Nothing too exciting happened, just the usual shell loading...
This show started as a private show by a guy (Richard) who shot it himself, then decided that caused him to miss his own party and would rather have somebody else shoot it. He is licensed and designed the whole show himself. He has a house on the water and hosts a party, with everyone else in the bay getting a good show too. This year he got contributions from neighbors since they benefit as well, so I'm sure that was a big help.
The barge was "docked" in a pretty run down area and we had to jump a couple gaps to get to our barge, which meant we had to be very careful moving product so we didn't drop something or fall in. I never saw the ramp moved (front of the barge in the above picture) but I'm told it worked... Behind is the Fury, the tug that moved us around. I forget the captain's name, but he was a pretty cool guy.
I don't remember the shell count, but we had everything from 2.5" salutes up to a few 8" shells, plus cakes, fountains, 3" and 4" mines, 3" comets, and strobes. We stared with the smallest stuff because that meant the most wiring. Everything was marked, but it was sometimes a challenge to find the right tube and matching shell. Nothing too exciting happened, just the usual shell loading...
Right by our barge was a much larger one being set up for a show by EFI for a show on Vashon Island, I was told they were shooting 50 12" shells, so I'm sure it was quite a show!
Because we were working on a "navigable waterway," the Coast Guard has regulatory jurisdiction. They did an inspection of the EFI barge, then came over to us. I wasn't with them for most of it, but they were checking EX numbers on products, looking at our life jackets, and so on. They didn't seem to know much about fireworks (as most regulatory people don't) and we had a bit of a laugh when they went over a checklist and asked if we were doing any ground bombs on our little barge...
Here is our little "blast shack" made of plywood with a thick plastic window and metal screen, which provides shelter during the show. I believe there are regulations on what type of shelter is needed, but it is common sense anyway, you are pretty close to the action and there is nowhere else to go but overboard if something goes wrong!
The barge was being towed to the site at 4pm that day, so we covered up everything with plastic and headed home for the day. We still had most of the 5"+ shells to load, but we got a lot of work done. I went home looking forward to the next day...
