Tall grass, wind and radio interference blow up annual fireworks show

Aside from a few tube-filled trailers, there wasn’t much evidence to be seen Thursday of the fire sparked by the previous night's fireworks show at Wylie High School.

But the aftermath of Wednesday’s WesTex Connect Fireworks Spectacular & Drone Show, however, were reflected in comments all across local social media.

By the time the drones and fireworks were set to fly in the 10 p.m. hour, attendees had already enjoyed an evening of live music and food that began after gates opened at 6 p.m.

According to WesTex Connect co-owner Rodney Amonett, the night began to fall apart when it was time to launch the nearly 400 drones.

“The drones had their own problem. It was some kind of radio interference,” Amonett said. “The drones were supposed to go to a maximum of 500 feet and come back to their spot.”

Instead, the automated aircraft, which were supposed to form into the WesTex Connect logo, ascended to 5,200 feet, potentially into the path of larger, manned aircraft, before turning back. Some, however never made it.

“It looked like they were going to have a total wipe-out. They lost 39 drones,” Amonett said. “They found most of them. They're damaged, but they're repairable.”

The show moved to Wylie this year after many years at the Nelson Park Festival Gardens. Local construction in the area and concerns for animals at the nearby Abilene Zoo is what brought the change. In years past, the park area around Tittle Lake, along with the parking lot at the Taylor County Expo Center, served as prime spots for families to enjoy the fireworks.

This year’s show location, where tickets cost $18, didn’t have the same kind of available open space surrounding the venue. Despite media reports to the contrary, most people assumed the show was the responsibility of the city, and that fed into their complaints about the admission cost and new locale.

Amonett said the city would assist with mowing nearby fields, or he would do it himself near the zoo.

While the football practice field, where the larger fireworks shells were positioned on trailers, was freshly mowed, the area north of the campus beyond a tree line was not.

“That grass back there was knee high,” Amonett said. “I offered to mow it, but everybody didn't seem to think it was a problem.”

Still, Amonett said there were “four or five” firetrucks stationed to take care of any falling sparks. This being his 25 ^th fireworks show, he knew small fires from fireworks sparks were likely, and between his preparations and the Abilene Fire Department trucks on-station, officials thought they ought to be able to cover any eventuality.

But after the drone malfunctions, things continued to go awry early into the fireworks show.

“Well, the fallout from the fireworks caught the pasture behind us on fire,” he said, gesturing toward the field with the tall grass.

The fire began burning south toward the fence line.

But Amonett said the winds out of the south were what had blown the sparks into that tall grass.

“That's where all the panic was at, and we had our fire extinguishers, and we shut that fence line down,” Amonett said. “At that point, it really didn't make sense to crank back up and finish the show.”

He said a fire marshal advised him to continue the show, but he declined.

“That really didn't make sense until we had it all under control and could assess things,” Amonett said.

Continuing with the show could have meant heat continuing to build on the trailers, which would have been fine if there were no other pauses in the show.

“When you start shooting, it needs to shoot,” Amonett said of launching fireworks. “Because you've got hot tubes left behind, and if you leave shells there, it’s a risk and a danger, and that was our concern last night.”

Amonett emphasized that at no time was any attendee at risk from the fire and no high school buildings were threatened. The fence line is at least a quarter-mile from Hugh Sandifer Stadium.

The drone failure is still a mystery.

“The drones work on a 2.4 gigahertz frequency just like the wireless internet that everybody's got on their phones and mobile devices,” he said. “There were so many people in the crowd and so many phones, I don't know if that did it. Who knows?”

As his 25 ^th show, this one would have been memorable for Amonett though now not in the way he’d hoped. He isn’t sure if there will be a 26 ^th show.

“I don't know yet. This was my anniversary, and I wanted this one to be so special, and it was gonna be, but ...,” he said, his voice trailing off as he thought about it. Then he shrugged.

“You know, a lot of people got a kick out of it,” he said. “It went bad. It's unreal.”

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This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Tall grass, wind and radio interference blow up annual fireworks show