[AlphaSigOU]

As one who is very familiar with pyrotechnics (I once worked for a company that made model rocket motors), I feel it was downright irresponsible to use them indoors, especially without any measures to put out any fires which would inevitably be caused by stray bits of glowing metal particles.

Shortly after I started work for that company I was reminded in no uncertain terms how dangerous and deadly the work could be. We had a modified drill press which had attached a vacuum cleaner to suck up propellant shavings into a 55-gallon drum as we either drilled out grains or set delay charges. About once every month we'd empty out the drum and box up the shavings for disposal. Unlike black powder model rocket motors, which can be destroyed by soaking them in water, the only way to destroy composite model rocket motor shavings and discards was to take them out in the desert and burn them. Away from prying eyes and crowds (and with the approval of the fire marshal), we burned the stuff in a spectacular fireball. On calm days you'd see a perfectly formed mushroom cloud, though it was nowhere near the scale of an atomic bomb.

One time my boss dipped a small Dixie cup full of propellant shavings and took me outside the building, he then placed the cup on the ground, ran about a foot of Thermalite detonating cord and lit it. We were standing a good ways away when the stuff ignited. POOF! A fireball about two or three feet in diameter erupts, consuming the cup and shavings instantly. You could feel the heat and shockwave of the explosion even where we were standing. Should that 55-gallon drum of shavings go up, kiss the factory and the rest of the building goodbye. (Tragically, it did happen in October 2001, long after I left.)

Seeing the horrific images of the fire's beginnings (which are being milked for all they're worth on TV), it doesn't take very long for a fire to spread quickly; it's been said that within three to five minutes of the fire starting on stage, the fire was already reaching flashover conditions (when the temperatures get high enough to ignite just about anything in sight).

86 people (and the death toll keeps climbing) lost their lives through wanton disregard in handling pyrotechnics. Just makes me sick.

Even if they had sufficient exits and complied with local fire codes, it's almost an instinctive reaction for people in a panic situation to make their way to the exit they've come in, even though there are perfectly good exit doors not ten feet from them. I try to make it a point to be aware of my surroundings and observe where the nearest emergency exit is. It may be to the side or even behind you, but don't go out the way you came in!