Fireworks don’t just happen—they’re crafted with precision, passion, and a deep respect for safety by dedicated pyrotechnicians like Brian Varnadore
While millions celebrate the Fourth of July with family BBQs and patriotic playlists, there’s a group of specialists who spend their holiday doing something else entirely—making the night explode in color and awe. One of them is Ware County’s own Brian Varnadore.
Varnadore, director of the James E. Blackburn Senior Public Safety Training Center, has been doing this for over three decades. “The high point of the night for us whenever everything is done is hearing everybody carrying on,” he said while taking a break just hours before showtime in Waycross. “There’s no better adrenaline rush than that. I’ll be yelling as loud as those watching because it’s done … we did our jobs and nobody got hurt.”
Varnadore and three other seasoned technicians from Pyrotechnico, one of the largest fireworks distributors in the U.S., began preparing at 9 a.m. for a 9:30 p.m. show. “I love doing this,” he said. The show, a Waycross tradition for over 30 years, did not disappoint.
The city’s 2025 show was moved from the wide-open fields of Waycross Middle School to a tighter location downtown near the water tower. That meant adjustments—not in spirit, but in shell size. “The downsizing is in the size of the shells being fired,” said Varnadore. “We’re using three-inch shells. Every inch is 100 feet of rise with 10 feet of pattern.”
With over 455 pounds of powder and 120 shells prepped, Varnadore explained the artistry behind it all. “We’ll have some cakes mixed in as well just to kind of give some filler time to just fill the picture up. We want to paint a picture.” Cakes, in firework lingo, are sequences of smaller effects fused together, often used in weddings for elegant impact.
The grand finale? “Our finale is totally separate from the first part of the show. We’re going to have cakes on the outside with a lot of color inside.” And what a finale it was—45 seconds of heart-pounding explosions that lit up the sky and drew cheers from the crowd.
Safety remains paramount. While the NFPA mandates a 70-foot safety buffer per inch of shell, Pyrotechnico goes further. “Pyrotechnico carries that a step further, and it’s 100 feet per inch. Nobody’s allowed within that distance,” Varnadore emphasized.
He controlled the show using the state-of-the-art Shooting Star System, a battery-powered console that replaced the old-school car battery method. “Each bank has 32 shots and I control the bank. This is the fourth generation of controls and I really like it, especially for its safety,” he added. “We have come down the line from hand fire to electric. The safety aspect has really been upgraded.”
Even after the last sparkle faded, the crew’s job wasn’t over. Less than two hours of breakdown and gear loading followed. The equipment was then returned to a leased county warehouse. “We can store up to 10,000 pounds in explosives. We’re inspected every other year by ATF … and we’ve never come close to that weight,” Varnadore said with a grin.
Fireworks may last minutes, but they represent hours—sometimes days—of labor, planning, and risk. Brian Varnadore and his team deserve as much applause as the show itself. They are not just technicians; they are artists and guardians of public safety who trade their holiday for ours. The next time you look up at a bursting sky, remember the quiet hands behind the boom.
Source:
- https://youtube.com/shorts/u6zYRsyOqTs?si=1WKdQ9-Ii5CNonmf
- https://www.theblacksheartimes.com/article/6863,pyrotec-s-labor-of-love-for-a-fireworks-shows
- https://app.pictory.ai/
- https://chatgpt.com/
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