Big Bay Boom...

The “Big Bay Boom”...

By now you've likely heard about the “Big Bay Boom” – the big malfunction at the July 4th fireworks display in San Diego.  I didn't personally witness this, though I sure wish I had – I think I would have greatly enjoyed it!  The gist of it is this: a malfunction of some kind (whether human or equipment is not yet certain) caused all the fireworks that were to be used in a 20 minute long show to be fired off all at the same time, roughly five minutes before the fireworks were scheduled to begin.  The entire show was over in something like 15 seconds.  The image at right is destined for glory, I think – one of the most awesome fireworks photos ever.

The backstory to this has a slight personal connection.  It turns out that the firm responsible for both the equipment and the operation of the fireworks show was Garden State Fireworks, of Millington, New Jersey.  I hail from the state of New Jersey, growing up on what was once a farm east of Trenton, but which now is the parking lot for a Walmart store.  I left (or fled) New Jersey in 1971, and after discovering that nearly everywhere in the world outside New Jersey was a better place to live, I never returned.  My wife and I settled in the mountains of San Diego County, California, where we've lived for almost 15 years.  Poking fun at my “homeland” of New Jersey has been a sort of hobby of mine for a long, long time.  This incident makes it almost too easy: the New Jersey firm wins the contract for the San Diego fireworks display, then screws it up in a spectacular and very public way – and because they won all the key aspects of the contract, there is utterly nobody else to blame.  Ah, yes...New Jersey has covered itself in glory this time  :-)