OH Firefighters Take Pride in Fireworks Display

July 4, 2019
Orrville firefighters haven't just been responsible for pyrotechnics safety at the annual Fire in the Sky Celebration. Some have been responsible for the show's big moments, too.

ORRVILLE, OH—For pyrotechnicians like Charles Back and Ron Ballantine, the best fireworks show is the one where the crowd cheers at the end. It doesn't matter if it's Orrville, Shreve or even Wooster.

"There is no competition," Ballantine said. "That's not what it's about. There are all kinds of good shows. A lot of people work really hard to spend a lot of money for your enjoyment. Stop measuring it."

Back added that one of the best compliments they ever heard was from a Shreve resident who said the village's show a year or two ago was better than Orrville's show, unaware the Orrville Firefighters Association shoots both of them.

"That's what it's about. It's a community event. Go to your community. Enjoy it," he said.

Back and Assistant Fire Chief Ballantine of the Orrville Fire Department have assisted with the fireworks show since the Orrville Firefighters Association (OFFA) took it over 36 years ago. This year, the fireworks show will launch at 10:15 p.m. on Saturday, wrapping up the 2019 Orrville Firefighters Fire in the Sky Celebration.

Back, a lifelong fireworks enthusiast whose birthday falls perfectly on July 4, joined the Orrville Fire Department in 1971 and started as part of the safety crew for the fireworks show, at the time organized by the Orrville Lions Club. Fire trucks were stationed at either end of the launch site, which featured a much smaller safety zone than is established around today's show.

When the OFFA took over the show, the fireworks supplier, Zambelli Fireworks, would bring the product to Orrville and the firefighters would help set up the show. The OFFA paid a Zambelli employee to shoot the show. But a few years in, Back and Ballentine, along with firefighters Todd Carr and Jerry Osburn, expressed interest in shooting the show themselves.

They began discussions with Zambelli salesman Michael Richards, and he agreed to sign their applications for the state fire marshal to take the test to become licensed to shoot fireworks. After Carr and Osburn left the department, EMS Capt. Kevin Baldwin and Back's oldest son Benjamin got licensed.

"By default, I've picked up being the head pyrotechnician and I think they've given me that honor so they don't have to do it," Back said. "The head technician is the one who has to sign all the permits, do the pre- and post-inspection, and the biggest one, they call it daylight inspection, 6:30-7 a.m. I have to be back down there to walk the whole shoot site to make sure there's no unexploded product anywhere."

The current Orrville fireworks crew also includes registered assistants, including Back's youngest son Brian from Washington and Ballentine's son Brad, a lieutenant with the department.

As a team, Back works with Ballantine and Baldwin to select the show from Zambelli. Back picks up the show from the company's headquarters in New Castle, Pennsylvania, the Thursday before the show, and several members of the fireworks crew must stay with the product at all times once it arrives on the scene in Orrville until it's shot on Saturday night.

Back chooses some product based on what he's seen when assisting with the Thunder Over Louisville fireworks show, the kickoff event for the Kentucky Derby Festival. Years ago, Richards invited Back and a handful of others from Orrville to help with the Louisville show, which is generally held in April, two weeks before Derby Day.

The Louisville show is set to music, a possibility for the Orrville crew but a costly one and one that would require an adequate PA system, which is lacking at Orr Park. Orrville also uses firing boards to shoot its show, and the addition of music would require a computer-assisted firing system that would keep the fireworks perfectly timed with the music.

Despite the lack of music, the Orrville fireworks show draws 40,000-50,000 people each year, based on estimates by the Orrville Police Department. Last year, Ballentine met two older women who drove all the way from Illinois to see the show and wanted to give him a hug after seeing the small-town yet high-caliber display.

"We love fireworks, and we heard about your show, and we're here to see it," they told Ballentine.

Next year, Orrville will shoot its fireworks show against Wooster, since the Fourth of July falls on a Saturday.

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©2019 The Daily Record, Wooster, Ohio

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