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 the Texas 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.
