By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Despite growing restrictions on the use of fireworks this year, some groups depend on fireworks sales every year for the revenue they need to stay afloat. One such group is the Clallam County Amateur Radio Club.
We spoke with club member Herm Halback at their fireworks stand in the Safeway parking lot in Port Angeles, who said foot traffic at the stand seems to be down a little this year. That’s not a good prospect for a group of volunteers that work directly with the Sherriff’s Office to help keep radio communications going in the event of an emergency.
“It’s the only revenue for the club and it’s the only way we can maintain our repeaters in the area so that we can keep the county actually ready for emergencies. But it’s the only way that we can afford to do that.”
Halback says their distributor TNT Fireworks, the nation’s largest, did not get their shipments this year and, instead, divvied out to their customers all of the leftovers from last year.
“We were told two weeks ago that we would not get our order. It’s most likely in a ship somewhere off the coast right now. But China has been unable to deliver, for several reasons, the fireworks that were normally expected. We are told this is nationwide. This is not local. This is getting very close. We only have basically two days and we’re done.”
We also spoke with club President Bob Sampson who assured us that if they have a down year, it won’t be the end of the club. He says last year, during Covid, they sold out completely, which put them way ahead. He says they do have an account to fall back on that should keep these important volunteers going for years to come.