Under the rockets' red glare

As dusk set on the St. Regis Park Friday, the Fourth of July sky came alive with fireworks from proud Americans throughout the town.

“It’s very cool to be out here and watch this great community event,” said Korry Fairfield.

Fairfield, a Seattle resident, was taking his family to Glacier Bible Camp and stopped in St. Regis to spend the evening and enjoy the fireworks.

He said that the event was much more impressive than the fireworks displays he had seen elsewhere because the entire community was in on the act rather than just the local fire department.

“It’s just not as commercial looking,” Fairfield said.

While the St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department did have their own set up of high-octane fireworks, the entire evening was accented by bottle rockets and flares from St. Regis locals who continued to launch their fireworks before, during and well after the scheduled show.

The St. Regis Fire Volunteer Department roped off a large section of the St. Regis Park as their pit, and began setting up their fire works cases just before 10 p.m.

“The biggest thing is just the public’s safety. Fire’s fire, whether it’s a grass fire or a house fire, we may fight it differently but we’re prepared to deal with anything,” said St. Regis Volunteer firefighter Kevin Managhan.

Managhan said that this year they roped off a larger area of the park from the public because last year there were people setting off their own fireworks dangerously close to the main display.

“It was just a little too close last year,” Managhan said.

The main display included 72 3-inch charges, 18 5-inch charges, six 4-inch charges, 10 6-inch charges, one 8-inch charge, and three display cakes.

The St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department arranged the boxes out in the field and attached them to a truck battery and a switchboard that allowed them to set each charge off individually from a safe distance.

Managhan said that they have used the electronic detonation system for three years now and it is much safer. He said the old system involved the use of a flare to light each individual charge and with the new system all they have to do is flip a switch.

Sometimes, when a firework is detonated, nothing happens. Managhan said that when they get a dud, they leave it in the box and don’t touch it until the next morning to make sure no one is hurt by a latent detonation.

“We just load it up onto the trailer very carefully,” Managhan said.

There were a total of five firefighters from the St. Regis Fire Department on hand to set up and detonate the main display. There was one fire truck at the park and Managhan said that the other trucks were ready to go in case of an emergency.

Since St. Regis received a fairly substantial dose of rain the previous Monday, Managhan said that the fire danger was fairly low and things were just right for a big fireworks display.

He added that the St. Regis Park is the perfect location because of its expanse of grass that provides them with some room to stop any fires before they reached the trees where the flames can get out of control.

The St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department display cost the community around $2,500, most of which came from donations. Managhan said that they had received around $2,300 in donations so far and the rest of the money was supplied by the St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department.