Fireworks crackled on the 4th of July, and dazzled people around the country. In Haines, one man has been behind most displays over the last 20 years. We connected with local pyrotechnician, Phil Wilde.

Philip Wilde was always fascinated by fireworks. 

Wilde: “Fireworks, for me is an old time tradition, since ever I was a kid, of watching the fireworks shows. It just became a very serious hobby.”

When Wilde grew up he got his pyrotechnician’s license. And for over 20 years, he operated Wildefire Pyrotechnics, selling fireworks at a booth 26 miles from Haines. He put on professional fireworks shows for weddings, baptisms, and other community celebrations. For years he would bring his crew to Skagway on the third of July, put on a show, and return to Haines the next day to do it all again.

Business slowed during the pandemic, so Wilde closed his shop and let his license expire. Still, last week he was able to put on a show in Haines.

Wilde: “As long as I’m below 250 pounds, I do not need a professional pyrotechnician’s license.”

Wilde got the fireworks for the Haines show from a dealer in Wasilla. Consumer fireworks are smaller, a couple of inches across. When he was licensed, Wilde would use shells half a foot in diameter that he could shoot high over the water.

Wilde’s passion and work led him to learn about firework construction.

Wilde: “Sodium makes red, calcium makes orange, potassium makes purple, copper compounds can make blue.”

The chemicals are placed in a machine called a star roller. It’s like a small cement mixer. Turn it on and add some water, and the chemicals form balls, called stars. Then, add some black powder to coat the stars.

Wilde: “There is a difference between black powder and gunpowder. Black powder is made out of potassium nitrate, and sulfur and charcoal, gun powder is made out of nitrocellulose. Which is mostly nitric and sulfuric acid mixed in with cotton.”

The stars can then be put into shells.

Wilde: “Fireworks, particularly in the old days, was all paper paste and string. You use what they call two hemis, or two paper or plastic half globes.”

Fireworks makers fill those globes with the chemical mixture. 

Wilde: “And you have what they call the lift charge, which is the blackpowder at the bottom of the shell that lifts it up going up through the tube. The longer the tube, the higher the shells go.”

Two different fuses are used, a fast one for lighting the lift charge, the other a slow burning one that lights up the chemical compounds. Once in the air, fireworks explode into different patterns.

Wilde: “Most fireworks look like plants. You have ones called palms, chrysanthemums, dahlias, what they call coconuts, dragon eggs or the crackles. You have peonies…” 

The patterns depend on how the firework is packed. The length of the slow fuse inside it determines the timing, hence the height, of the explosions.  

Wilde: “You pack them in, to make the different patterns, you can use three to four different compounds to make three or four different colors of shells, so you can just have the shell burst, and it can do three things in the air.”

Wilde says he doesn’t plan on getting a professional license again. He says his former clients have found other sources now. And the insurance is expensive. But he can still put on a show!