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Fireworks Vendors Voluntarily Ban "Stick Rockets and Missiles"

Thor Delta Missile
Image courtesy Quantum Fireworks
A Thor Delta Missile sold by Quantum Fireworks. Travis County fireworks vendors have voluntarily stopped selling these types of fireworks because of exceptionally dry conditions.

Companies that sell fireworks in Central Texas are adopting a voluntary ban on some flying fireworks because of the dry conditions.  Chester Davis owns American Fireworks and is president of theTexas Pyrotechnic Association.
"The stick rockets and missiles are the number one problem in the fireworks industry.  And when the conditions are as they are today, if we do away with stick rockets and missiles, and everybody abides by that and you don't offer 'em for sale, you accomplish about 99 percent of the issue," Davis told Travis County Commissioners this morning.

"Stick rockets (also known as sky rockets) generally have a stick to add stability to the flight of the rocket," according to Quantum Fireworks. "Firework rockets that do not have sticks are referred to as missiles."

The Texas Pyrotechnic Association will police itself in the flying fireworks ban. The current drought index is just below the level that would allow commissioners to ban the rockets and missiles.

Fireworks go on sale throughout Central Texas next Monday.

Here's a video from San Antonio showing what can happen when people go nuts with flying fireworks. The video's author says their tomfoolery resulted in a three-alarm blaze.

Nathan Bernier is the transportation reporter at KUT. He covers the big projects that are reshaping how we get around Austin, like the I-35 overhaul, the airport's rapid growth and the multibillion dollar transit expansion Project Connect. He also focuses on the daily changes that affect how we walk, bike and drive around the city. Got a tip? Email him at nbernier@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @KUTnathan.
Ian Crawford joined KUT as News Editor in 2008, after spending over four years as a reporter/anchor at KLBJ Radio in Austin. He began his broadcasting career while still in high school in Southern Oregon. During high school and college at the University of Oregon, he worked at times as a reporter, news anchor, sports play-by-play reporter, music host and commercial producer before moving to Texas in 2003.
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