WTNH News Channel 8 / News / 1999

	Launching fireworks a blast say volunteers (Middletown-WTNH) _ Workers across the state are sweating through today's unbearable heat to make sure those annual Fourth of July firework shows go off without a hitch. And you may be surprised at what motivates these men and women. It's not a paycheck. News Channel 8's Jocelyn Sigue reports. Judy Jensen, Telstar Volunteer: "I'm an avid reader I do needlepoint I crochet. And at least once every summer weekend Judy Jensen puts those quiet hobbies aside is exchange for this one - fireworks. It's volunteers that make many of those Fourth of July fireworks shows possible. Every weekend they lift, haul, roll, load, and light dangerous explosives, and they do it all for free. Judy Jensen, Telstar Volunteer "Each one of these jobs I have done and each one gives me an adrenaline rush and at the end of the show you take out your ear plugs and you hear the crowd scream - even if you're a thousand feet away you can hear those people scream with joy." Jake McGirr, Telstar Display Fireworks: "They do this cause they like it. I give em a hat and a t-shirt and they come out here and they'll work in this sun all day long and we'll get off of this barge at around one o'clock tonight." Jake McGirr will be the head shooter tonight. That means he get's paid to make sure this Telstar fireworks show gets off the ground. In his ten years on the job McGirr's watched the shows shoot higher and longer. McGirr: "Now we do a lot more electrical firings which allows us to shoot simultaneously, shoot in a specific sequence, where shows used to be hand lit the timing couldn't be as precise. Now we can have the computer run it and time it perfectly for every shot." While it's the wave of the future there will be no computers at tonight's Middletown show. Some of these shells will be lit electrically, the others the old fashioned way by hand. But you'll never see these guys handling those fireworks you see on the streets. Jensen: "I would never handle that class C stuff. I think it's dangerous people lose body parts and those sparkler they burn at 1200 degrees and they give them to kids?" McGirr: "Most people to light fireworks they go to New Hampshire or down south and bring some back. I got the town to give me about a ton and a quarter of explosive and pay me to do this. This is a great country." The workers in Middletown today loaded about 2,000 explosives onto a barge for tonight's show. The preparation began back in February and each volunteer goes through months of training to be ready for this day. But those computer are soon going to take away a lot of the fun for them. Today's News Page. WTNH Home Page. ©1999 WTNH/WTNH-DT A LIN station.

Launching fireworks a blast say volunteers
(Middletown-WTNH) _ Workers across the state are sweating through today's unbearable heat to make sure those annual Fourth of July firework shows go off without a hitch. And you may be surprised at what motivates these men and women. It's not a paycheck.
News Channel 8's Jocelyn Sigue reports.

Judy Jensen, Telstar Volunteer: "I'm an avid reader I do needlepoint I crochet.

And at least once every summer weekend Judy Jensen puts those quiet hobbies aside is exchange for this one - fireworks. It's volunteers that make many of those Fourth of July fireworks shows possible. Every weekend they lift, haul, roll, load, and light dangerous explosives, and they do it all for free.

Judy Jensen, Telstar Volunteer "Each one of these jobs I have done and each one gives me an adrenaline rush and at the end of the show you take out your ear plugs and you hear the crowd scream - even if you're a thousand feet away you can hear those people scream with joy."

Jake McGirr, Telstar Display Fireworks: "They do this cause they like it. I give em a hat and a t-shirt and they come out here and they'll work in this sun all day long and we'll get off of this barge at around one o'clock tonight."

Jake McGirr will be the head shooter tonight. That means he get's paid to make sure this Telstar fireworks show gets off the ground. In his ten years on the job McGirr's watched the shows shoot higher and longer.

McGirr: "Now we do a lot more electrical firings which allows us to shoot simultaneously, shoot in a specific sequence, where shows used to be hand lit the timing couldn't be as precise. Now we can have the computer run it and time it perfectly for every shot."

While it's the wave of the future there will be no computers at tonight's Middletown show. Some of these shells will be lit electrically, the others the old fashioned way by hand. But you'll never see these guys handling those fireworks you see on the streets.

Jensen: "I would never handle that class C stuff. I think it's dangerous people lose body parts and those sparkler they burn at 1200 degrees and they give them to kids?"
McGirr: "Most people to light fireworks they go to New Hampshire or down south and bring some back. I got the town to give me about a ton and a quarter of explosive and pay me to do this. This is a great country."

The workers in Middletown today loaded about 2,000 explosives onto a barge for tonight's show. The preparation began back in February and each volunteer goes through months of training to be ready for this day. But those computer are soon going to take away a lot of the fun for them.

Today's News Page.

WTNH Home Page.