Fireworks display at Milford
Display location:MILFORD
City:MILFORD
State:CT
Date:Sept.6.
City:MILFORD
State:CT
Date:Sept.6.
Details: MILFORD – A perfect storm of complications, including a fireworks technician’s knee surgery and a huge brush pile at the town transfer station, prevented the VFW-sponsored fireworks from going off as planned on Labor Day evening.
Sponsored by the men’s auxiliary of the Milford Veterans of Foreign Wars, the fireworks display was intended to cap a day of Labor Day celebrations that included the annual parade, a VFW pig roast and a chili contest.
Fireworks on Labor Day have a long tradition in Milford, and this year it was more meaningful because the town did not fund a Fourth of July display.
“A series of unfortunate events,” is how Matt Shea, general manager of Atlas PyroVision Productions, described the situation.
The Jaffrey company, which puts on about 750 shows in New England each year, was supposed to set off the Sept. 7 show at the Milford Transfer Station, to be viewed by people at Keyes Park and the soccer fields on North River Road.
But the VFW did not get the application to the town in enough time to get the transfer station ready, said Dawn Griska, executive assistant to the town administrator.
“We tried to scramble” to get a space for the fireworks, she said, but the transfer station wasn’t usable because of a “huge pile of brush” that will be chipped later this year.
The brush pile, fed all spring and summer by residents who are still cleaning up from the December ice storm, would have posed a fire hazard because it was too close to the fireworks.
“We did not have the time or the manpower” to deal with it, said Griska. “Six days was not enough time.”
After the VFW submitted its application on Tuesday, the town called the state fire marshal’s office to ask for advice, she said, and came up with a few alternate sites. However, by the time the VFW learned about the alternate sites on Wednesday, it had already had to cancel the event so that it wouldn’t lose its deposit.
Mike Buffelli of the VFW men’s auxiliary said Atlas accepted responsibility for the paperwork delay and did not fine the VFW $750, the penalty for late cancellation of the show, which was going to cost $5,000.
“It was just a paperwork snafu,” he said.
Sponsored by the men’s auxiliary of the Milford Veterans of Foreign Wars, the fireworks display was intended to cap a day of Labor Day celebrations that included the annual parade, a VFW pig roast and a chili contest.
Fireworks on Labor Day have a long tradition in Milford, and this year it was more meaningful because the town did not fund a Fourth of July display.
“A series of unfortunate events,” is how Matt Shea, general manager of Atlas PyroVision Productions, described the situation.
The Jaffrey company, which puts on about 750 shows in New England each year, was supposed to set off the Sept. 7 show at the Milford Transfer Station, to be viewed by people at Keyes Park and the soccer fields on North River Road.
But the VFW did not get the application to the town in enough time to get the transfer station ready, said Dawn Griska, executive assistant to the town administrator.
“We tried to scramble” to get a space for the fireworks, she said, but the transfer station wasn’t usable because of a “huge pile of brush” that will be chipped later this year.
The brush pile, fed all spring and summer by residents who are still cleaning up from the December ice storm, would have posed a fire hazard because it was too close to the fireworks.
“We did not have the time or the manpower” to deal with it, said Griska. “Six days was not enough time.”
After the VFW submitted its application on Tuesday, the town called the state fire marshal’s office to ask for advice, she said, and came up with a few alternate sites. However, by the time the VFW learned about the alternate sites on Wednesday, it had already had to cancel the event so that it wouldn’t lose its deposit.
Mike Buffelli of the VFW men’s auxiliary said Atlas accepted responsibility for the paperwork delay and did not fine the VFW $750, the penalty for late cancellation of the show, which was going to cost $5,000.
“It was just a paperwork snafu,” he said.
posted by jessi at
12:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home