Fireworks and more fill Fourth in Tri-Cities

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer

Fourth of July festivities for the Tri-Cities will begin with cardboard boat races in the morning and climax with fireworks beneath a nearly full moon.

As many as 20,000 people are expected to jam Kennewick's Columbia Park today and this evening for the 23rd annual River of Fire Festival, while thousands more are expected to fill Gesa Stadium at TRAC tonight to celebrate Pasco's Grand Old Fourth.

The sky over the Columbia River will blaze with color about 10 p.m. when the first of 1,000 shells are set off from a Tidewater barge anchored in the river near the Veterans Memorial.

"The barge is back," declared Lori Mattson, president and CEO of the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Last year's fireworks show had to be moved to the shore for lack of an available seaworthy barge. But this year, the pyrotechnics will be launched from a barge reconditioned into a floating stage.

"We called a few people to get us to the right people and we got the barge," said Ron Hue, who worked with Mattson to coordinate this year's fireworks festivities.

Hue said trees in Columbia Park are so large that people lining the shore had difficulty seeing last year's fireworks. Using a barge puts the show away from the shoreline into the river where everyone can see it, he said.

Hundreds of launch tubes, some as large as 10 inches in diameter, will hold the charges until they are triggered electrically.

"We'll shoot 360 circuits," said John Falleen, the leader of a six-person crew who directs the 221/2-minute show.

This is Falleen's 25th year as a pyrotechnician for Western Display Fireworks of Canby, Ore., but only his fourth at the River of Fire Festival.

"This is an anniversary year for Western Display Fireworks, so we've got some special shells," Falleen said, adding that the finale will be spectacular.

Being on a 150-foot-long barge stacked with pallets bearing hundreds of pounds of explosives causes plenty of anxiety, Falleen said. But once the first switch is thrown and that first rocket launches, the thrill is on.

"That's when the adrenaline kicks in," he said.

And yes, it does "get a little warm on deck" and smoky, even though Falleen and crew have a plywood shack for a mission control center.

Falleen supervises a trigger man, an observer whose job is to watch for successes and duds, and two people armed with fire extinguishers.

Everyone on the barge has to wear gear for fire and sound protection and a life vest because the platform technically is a vessel.

"I guess that's so they can find us if we get blown off the barge," Falleen said.

Mattson said the Columbia Park fireworks display, which is sponsored by HAPO Community Credit Union and cost $20,000 this year, will be the largest in Southeastern Washington.

Admission is $7 per car.

The fourth annual Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers Cardboard Boat Race, a fundraiser for the Crime Stoppers reward fund, begins with viewing at 8 a.m. and racing at 10 a.m. Live entertainment on the main stage starts at noon, running until dark.

There will be food vendors and commercial business displays with arts, crafts, train rides and a kid's area featuring Big Top the Clown in the evening.

No alcohol and no fireworks will be allowed in the park, said Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin. Violators will be cited for misdemeanors, he said.

A 1,200-foot safety zone around the barge will be guarded by the Benton County sheriff's Boat Patrol from about 9 p.m. until 20 minutes after the end of fireworks.

Police will have a police and fire command post in the park from 4 p.m. to midnight.

The Grand Old Fourth in Pasco also will have public fireworks at 10 p.m., with musical entertainment beginning at 7 p.m. at Gesa Stadium, 6200 Burden Blvd., off Road 68 in Pasco.

Pasco, Franklin County and the city of Kennewick prohibit all personal fireworks.

Lattin noted that the Office of state Fire Marshal reported fireworks related fires last year in Washington amounted to $228,018 in losses.

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Saturday, Jul. 04, 2009

Fireworks and more fill Fourth in Tri-Cities

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer