Civilian ensures Fourth of July celebration goes off with bang

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Jamie Humphries
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFPN) --  For Bob Howett, the Fourth of July is his time to shine, and he has the scar to prove it. During his final Air Force assignment here 25 years ago, the former jet mechanic discovered his love of fireworks. It is that love of explosives that has kept him pleasing crowds worldwide.

Mr. Howett started his journey as a teenager when he began making fireworks out of old cone-top beer cans.

“I used to make rockets out of beer cans,” said Mr. Howett, who works at the base Strike Eagle self-help store. “If everything’s just right, those things can really go.”

The 56-year-old joined the Air Force in 1967 and has worked on several aircraft types. He was stationed at many bases throughout the world, including Saigon during the Vietnam War.

Although he did not know it then, Mr. Howett’s hearing loss, brought on by years of working on the flightline, was about to play a prominent role in discovering explosives.

While assigned to Kadena Air Base, Japan, Mr. Howett took a hearing test and failed. Because of his impairment, he was transferred to a training management position in the communications squadron.

“I’m standing there in the squadron orderly room, and our first sergeant, who was new from (explosive ordnance disposal), kept getting calls from fireworks companies,” Mr. Howett said. “Finally, one day I asked him what the deal was with all of these phone calls.”

It was then Mr. Howett reached the point of no return, or, as he said, “Once you smell the smoke, there’s no turning back.”

“I perked up when he explained the fireworks business to me,” Mr. Howett said. “I thought this was cool because I’d always been interested in pyrotechnics.”

Three weeks before Independence Day, the first sergeant asked Mr. Howett if he would like to be a part of a crew that would put on a fireworks display. While Mr. Howett said he had no formal training in pyrotechnics, he was excited about the opportunity.

That next Saturday, in the first sergeant’s garage full of fireworks, Mr. Howett was given a pyrotechnics course that consisted of safety procedures and fireworks characteristics. A few days later, the first sergeant asked him to lead a crew putting on a show in Pinehurst, N.C.

“I told him I’d never done this before,” Mr. Howett said. “This was exciting to me.”

Mr. Howett and his crew of two people filled his station wagon full of explosives and headed for Pinehurst. His display was arranged next to a lake, giving him the opportunity to escape if he had to, he said.

“I thought if things go wrong, I’ll hit the water,” Mr. Howett said. “My hands were shaking and I was nervous, but the show lasted 15 minutes and the hotel wanted me back the following year.”

Since his initial show, Mr. Howett has worked at numerous venues, including theme parks, speedways, a mall and even as far away as South America.

Although working with explosives is dangerous, he has been injured only once, and it was relatively minor.

“The scar on my right hand was caused when a shell exploded out of the tube and it hit me,” Mr. Howett said. “I went to the hospital after the show and got my New Year’s kiss in the emergency room.”

Mr. Howett has run his fireworks show here since the early 1980s and has canceled only one show because of weather.

“Mr. Howett does a great job every year,” said Candie Marriner, 4th Services Squadron marketing. “We can always count on (him for) one of the best shows around.”

To an audience attending a fireworks show, the display can look easy, but experts said the show is anything but a walk in the park. For a 20-minute show, pyrotechnics professionals will explode nearly 300 fireworks. This does not include the finale, which can easily expend another 300. They are expensive as well; one individual firework can exceed $100.

Although the fireworks are safer and more predictable than they were in the 1980s, the planning that goes into a show is extensive.

“It’s a lot of hard work to set up a show,” Mr. Howett said. “You must have a commercial driver’s license for transporting hazardous material, abide by regulations and background checks and ensure the complete safety of your audience.”

Despite the hard work, Mr. Howett said he would not change this profession for the world.

“As long as I can breathe and lift racks of fireworks from my truck, I’ll be lighting them off,” Mr. Howett said. “I’m going to roll up in a wheelchair to light off fireworks if I have to."