Fireworks Tonight

I have been worried all week about Fireworks scheduled for tonight in Hamden. If the fireworks go off as scheduled, they’ll be going on as a cold front approaches from the west. This time of year, that type of front often sets off thunderstorms.

Though the new computer ‘numbers’ play down the chance of thunderstorms a little and bring the lowest clouds in late – I’m not so sure I agree with the computer. It is a matter of nuance, not total disagreement. There is a significant chance for showers at dusk… a dusk which won’t be seen through gloomy low clouds.

With 20,000 people expected, sitting outside on the old Meadowbrook Golf Course, I’d rather not see them take a chance. Showers are bad enough, but lightning – that’s a whole other story.

I’m expecting a call from the fireworks chairman in a little while. I’m not sure what the downside is to him and the volunteer firemen who benefit from this, if this date must be changed. There’s no doubt everyone would be more comfortable tomorrow. Comfort is probably not enough to change the date.

I’m petrified, because I can’t say with absolute certainty whether there will or won’t be thunderstorms at 9:00 PM, they’ll be forced to carry on as scheduled. No one wants to put these 20,000 people at risk unnecessarily.

These are the forecasts I anguish over.

Fireman’s Dilemma

Of all the fireworks displays in this area, I enjoy the one in Hamden, run by the Hamden Volunteer Fire Department, the most. New Haven’s is probably bigger, but Hamden’s takes place at Meadowbrook Golf Course, a huge open space which is conducive to being neighborly. There’s music and lots of smiling.

Much of this week I’d been kicking myself for not having taken off tonight so I could see the show (and photograph it). Good thing I didn’t.

My friend Cindy called just before 9:00 PM. She told me she had a scoop – and she really did. The fireworks had been canceled – canceled by the State Fire Marshall!

At this moment I don’t have all the details, but I think it has something to do with the launch tubes. It’s good to be safety conscious. Back in 1980, in Torrington, a fireworks display gone bad ended up injuring a bunch of people. No one wants a repeat of that.

The most interesting part of this story might be how the Volunteer Fire Department got shut down by the Fire Marshall. Ouch.