History of Fireworks

There are many things you may think of when 4th of July comes around: parades, delicious food off the grill, a cold beer or good times spent with friends and family.

Of course, no mention of our nation’s birthday would be complete without fireworks, those dangerous yet fascinating creations that have become a huge part of our nation’s holiday.

Fireworks have been around since around 200 BC in China.

When locals ran out of other fuel for their fires, such as wood, they would burn rods of bamboo. Because bamboo grows incredibly fast, air gets trapped inside the shoots. When they are thrown into fire or flame, the air expanded and they ‘popped’ with a loud noise.

Eventually, these long ago Chinese natives decided that if the loud, exploding bamboo sticks were good enough to scare them, it was good enough to scare evil spirits away from their homes as well.

As time moved on, the Chinese began to experiment with chemical concoctions, usually hoping to create an elixir to prolong life.

While experimenting with various ingredients, they found the components to a basic explosive. Although some were initially hurt by these hua yao or ‘fire drugs’, others continued to experiment with the mixture, including increasing its power and potency.

Eventually, the weak gunpowder mixture was placed within the husk of the bamboo shoots and the first proper firecrackers were born.

The next step in the evolution of modern fireworks occurred when Marco Polo brought fire rockets to Italy from the orient around 1292.

Renaissance Italy proved to be the perfect place for fireworks to grow and evolve. Soon the first ‘fountains’ of bright sparks were created, as were the spinning pin-wheels similar to those still used today.

All of this innovation led to fireworks becoming a spectacle reserved for official events and religious festivals, as well as some high profile weddings and the like.

It was quite a while before fireworks again became something for the common man, this time in eighteenth century England.

In the States, fireworks came over with some of the settlers, early in the sixteenth century.

Although they were not officially used to celebrate the Fourth of July until 1777, early new world settlers used them to both amaze and frighten the Native Americans, who had never seen anything like it.

Today there are many laws governing where and when you can use fireworks. It is always wise to be aware of the law.

In many areas of Texas, most Class C or ‘Consumer Fireworks’ are legal, however small rockets are not. There are also local laws which may affect what kind of fireworks are legal in your area and you may also want to be aware of certain conditions like a drought, which would elevate the danger of fires from misused firework material.

Another thing to always be aware of is safety.

Although the safest path to avoid injury is to avoid home use of fireworks altogether, follow these tips when using fireworks of any type:

• Never try to light a device with a short fuse, as this will not allow you to keep your distance from the device when you light it. On the same token a ‘punk’ or some other lighting device with a long reach should be considered.

• Always keep a hose, fire extinguisher, bucket of water and/or wet towels around the areas
where you are setting the fireworks off in case you have to put out a fire.

• Never try to light a ‘dud’ or fix a device that does not seem to work. Soak the device in water,
then wait awhile before disposing of the device in the proper manner.

• Shoot off the fireworks one at a time, never modify the devices or tie the wicks together.

• Never shoot fireworks out of a glass or metal container.

• Do not shoot or aim any device towards people or animals.

• Store devices in a cool dry place and transport them accordingly. They are explosive devices and should be treated as such.

• Never carry fireworks in your pockets.

So there you have it, have fun this year and be safe and celebrate the history of out great nation.

Special greetings to Duke, who I was told by a little bird named Joyce the he looks forward to reading this column each issue. Thanks Duke; it means a lot to know there are people out there enjoying Fish Out of Water!