Boys and their big booms rouse the coulee

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sound of loud booms ricocheting off the canyon walls last Friday and Saturday caught the attention of many local residents.

Not to worry, though, it was all a group of pyrotech club people demonstrating their rocket prowess.

Alan Cain, one of the members of the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association, said the 10 members who showed up for the fun were amazed at how the sound reverberated through the area.

"One person said it was the best he had ever seen," Cain stated.

And it was all legal. Local Fire Chief Richard Paris issued a permit for Lincoln County Fire District 9 that made it all possible.

Club members are specially trained in the handling of fireworks and rockets. The club practiced their craft on Cain's property southwest of Highway 174 on the way to Wilbur.

Friday and Saturday they were shooting five-inch rockets off the hillside with Grand Coulee Dam in the background. It was the first time the club had a shoot in the Grand Coulee area.

"We normally get 30-40 people out for our shoots," Cain said. "But the snow in the mountain passes cut the numbers down." The club has 140 members.

Safety and experience are the order of the day. The group wears cotton clothes (polyester can melt to your skin) and goggles.

Cain said he has only to take his state exam before he would be eligible to put on pyrotechnic displays.

The five-inch shells make quite a blast. They can be set off by hand or by electronic detonators.

Cain says it was all in a day's fun for the non-profit clubbers.

The group is also willing to put on fireworks displays at local events, such as one they lit up last September at a hot air balloon festival in Quincy.

Several people contacted The Star wondering what all the loud explosions had been about around 9:15 p.m., Saturday night.