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SIERRA VISTA — Shoot. Clean. Load. Shoot. Clean. Load.
Like a choreographed dance, the men and women of the Rotary Pryotechician Team presented the third largest fireworks show in the state of Arizona Friday night.
Their goal: Keep the sky full of color.
The crew of 27 people are trained volunteers led by chief pryotechician Pat Call of the Rotary Club of Sierra Vista. In a seamless routine, one person lit the match, a red cord that was described as wax paper covering a core of gun powder, and sent a stream of sparks into the sky with a loud boom. The next person cleaned the steel mortar that was grounded in the vacant baseball field. Finally, another member placed a fresh shell inside the mortar. Repeat.
  
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“There’s a charge at the bottom that propels it up. As it’s being propelled up it sets off another fuse … and then it explodes,” Call said.
Even though the show was state’s third largest, the grand finale last night was the largest finale in the state — larger than Tucson and Phoenix.
“Even the ones that are larger than us in the state are only large by like 500, 600 dollars. They’re not that much larger,” Call said.
The crowd’s reaction to the display brimming with bright golds, explosive reds and glimmering blues was deafening. The cheers echoed across the Stone Sports Complex.
The largest shells of the finale were 10 inches in diameter and had to be lit from at least 75 feet away, Call said.
The entire finale was prefused by the team who spent three hours working the night of the third and began again at 8 a.m. Friday and working into the early afternoon. Each shell was placed inside a mortar and checked to make sure it would fire correctly and not get caught on its way up.
While the rain held off during the fireworks show, Call said the crew was rigging for rain. Each mortar in the finale was covered with a large black plastic garage bag that the shell could easily puncture, but would keep it dry.
If anyone was on the field Friday morning, they might have thought they were hearing miners from the clink, clink, clink of crew members hammering in metal poles to keep the mortars pointing in the right direction.
“It’s pretty violent when they take off, and we don’t want them falling over and shooting over the field. We want them going up,” Call said.
The larger shells that initiate a loud boom can even set off car alarms. During last night’s show, at least four times car alarms could be heard ringing.
After the finale volley was lit, the men and women in red T-shirts sporting the word “Pryotechician” with a phrase below it — “If you see me running, try to keep up” — congratulated each other on another show. They had dodged stray sparks. They had given up their day off. And they filled the sky with color.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Julie Ann Marra can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at julieann.marra@svherald.com.
Carolyn wrote on Jul 9, 2008 10:38 AM: