Community Corner

Blowing Things Up For the Fun of It

Local photographer heads up Decatur's 4th of July fireworks display

Drew Stauss has been blowing things up for almost 20 years now to the enjoyment of thousands.

Stauss, a Decatur-based commercial photographer, has been involved with the city of Decatur’s annual 4th of July fireworks for the better part of two decades. Today, he’s the man in charge of everything from making sure no one on his crew or in the crowd gets set on fire, to cleaning up the mess afterward.

“That’s what few people realize – there is a huge mess after the show,” Stauss said. “There’s an incredible amount of debris left over. It’s a very hard, dirty and laborious process to get one of these shows together. You want to burn your clothes when you’re done … if they’re not already burned for you.”

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Stauss first got involved with fireworks productions when Southern International, then a local fireworks company, hired him to shoot photographs for their catalog. “The owner could tell I was very interested, and asked if I’d like to attend one of his training seminars.

"I started out a grunt on a 4th of July show at Druid Hills Golf Course … meaning I did all of the dirty work and then watched someone else light the show.”

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Today, East Coast Pyrotechnics puts on Decatur’s show, and Stauss is crew chief.

“The opening and closing of the show is pretty strongly dictated,” he says. “Everything is preloaded, but the main body of the show is hand lit, and what we shoot up during that portion of the show is determined by what all is going on around you, such as how much debris is coming down.

“Fuses can be very finicky,” he adds. ”There are always some that look like they’re going to go off, but then they’ll glow a little bit and fade out, so you have to go back and forth with them a few times.”

Stauss doesn’t recall any major injuries at any of the shows he’s worked. “Every year someone gets a very minor burn, but we’re super safety conscious. In fact, I secure my fireworks racks more securely than we’re taught at our training seminars.

“This job is a fun way to blow stuff up and clear out all your aggression.”


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