Fireworks prices rising fast

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO EVAN WILLIAMS T. C. Downey, store manager for Phantom Fireworks at his North Fort Myers store. All is quiet at Phantom Fireworks outlet store in North Fort Myers, where manager T.C. Downey awaits the crowds of July 4 buyers to appear. He is also still waiting for about five semi-trucks full of crackling, hopping, reporting, whining, sometimes even flying devices.

"It's usually a long calm and a big storm," he said.

And it will still be another few weeks before roadside tents are up. But for fireworks importers in the United States which supply outlet stores and put on professional displays, the rush to get the goods was on early this year, after an explosion in China Feb. 14 caused a sudden shortage.

The unplanned display in the port city of Sanshui, which reportedly lasted more than 24 hours, wiped out 20 fireworks warehouses and led authorities there to ban shipments at all ports except two.

"It's very difficult to get the product out of China right now," said Sharon Hunnewell-Johnson, president of Galaxy Fireworks in Tampa, which supplies outlet stores throughout Florida, including one in Fort Myers on Palm Beach Boulevard. "There's only so much room on the boats."

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO EVAN WILLIAMS Fireworks may be in short supply locally. There were 278 million pounds of fireworks sold in the U.S. in 2006; 95 percent of them were made at a city in Hunan Province called Liu Yang, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, the leading trade organization for the $900 million per year industry.

Gary Avins, president of Firepower Displays Unlimited, who supplies the Miromar Outlet mall in South Fort Myers with mortars for their 4th of July community display, described the environment at his offices in Princeton as "crazed."

"I'm in good shape because I ordered last year, but even so, everything is late," he said. "And a couple of containers I ordered I'm not getting until after the 4th of July."

In the short term, the shortage won't affect the inventory sent to most local outlets, he said. Nor will it hamper other professional shows like "Red, White and BOOM" in Cape Coral. That's because most suppliers ordered early or have plenty of surplus inventory to cover any shortages, according to Garden State Fireworks president August Santore. His company, based in New Jersey, puts on the shows for Cape Coral and Fort Myers each year.

"A lot of guys (sell fireworks) part time," he said. "Those are the guys that are gonna get hurt. The larger companies, they keep a supply on hand, they have the recourses."

Even so, prices will rise 30 percent across the board, said Julie L. Heckman, APA's executive director. That means higher prices for consumer fireworks like roman candles, bottle rockets and "Pyrotechnic Motherlode," as well as the mortars used for professional displays.

Phantom in Fort Myers will only raise prices 15 percent, according to William A. Weimer, vice president for B.J. Alan Company in New Jersey, which distributes Phantom and Wolf Pack brand fireworks. He said the increase is due not only to the shortage, but also Chinese inflation, shipping costs, and recent Chinese policy changes which allow citizens to buy and sell consumer fireworks there in major cities.

Bill Bahr, president of Pyrotechnics Guild International, a worldwide group of fireworks enthusiasts based in New Jersey, said the problems in China may lead to more American-made fireworks.

"Because of the explosions they had nobody wants to ship them anymore and the Chinese companies have raised their prices something terrible," he said. "What you are going to be seeing in the next few years is more manufacturing of fireworks in the U.S."

Bahr, who is also president of Red Dragon Tactical Supplies in Farmingdale, N.J., which manufactures various tactical devices for the State Department, has already used his company's recourses to start producing some fireworks.

Phantom Manager Downey said that wherever they're coming from, his supplies are on the way. His favorite is one called "Da-bomb," which fires nine shots into the air in succession, each of which explodes loudly, creating a large chrysanthemum bloom in the sky.

Other fireworks explosions create the shape of a star, a weeping willow or even a palm tree, Downey said.

"There's a whole world of fireworks and fireworks classifications," he said.

Downey plans for the 4th year round, but said in the next couple of weeks, his staff will grow from four to about 20 or 30 salespeople, stockers and cashiers. And at the Galaxy Fireworks outlet on Palm Beach, a stack of applications for fireworks tent operators sat on the counter.