Boise pyrotechnic firm says city unfairly denied Gowen Thunder permit. What happened?
Richard Myers, the owner of Firewalkers International Pyro, likes to set off explosives for a living.
But he also takes safety, comfort of the surrounding community and environmental factors into consideration as he produces choreographed scenes with planes and flight teams.
He was stunned when the city of Boise and the Boise Fire Department denied his permit to perform at the Gowen Thunder Airshow on Aug. 26-27 in Boise, his hometown.
According to email correspondence provided to the Idaho Statesman, the city said the pyrotechnics show was deemed “incongruous with fire safety and preservation of service objectives held by agency stakeholders.”
Myers said his fire shows are “highly choreographed” and safe. Since 2013, Firewalkers International Pyro has performed 235 times, and there have never been any safety issues, Myers said. He said he has booked performances across the United States and in China and Australia.
Firewalkers International sets off fires and dynamite at air shows. Flight teams fly in coordination within the flames. The point is to put on a performance that shows how the planes would have actually been used during war time.
Before every performance, Myers said, he and his team have dozens of virtual meetings with airshow employees to go through safety protocol and the show steps.
“It looks like pure chaos, but it’s choreographed to look like that,” Myers said in a meeting with the Statesman in his Boise office. “We might fly the show the weekend before we arrive at the air show. We’ll actually walk the show one more time before we do it. We never assume anything.”
Myers was excited to perform at the Gowen Field air show.
“It was my hometown show,” Myers said. “I wanted to give it a little love back.”
Myers invited his friends from his previous job in the Idaho Air National Guard and his family to the show. He had invested money in flying team members to help with the performance and on the needed explosive supplies for the show, all before he learned that they would be denied their permit.
Myers filed a tort claim against the city in November for $132,790 in damages, which include his loss of income from the denial and personal distress.
Myers said he still hasn’t received a response to follow-up questions he asked the city about why they denied the permit. Before the city issued the denial, Myers said, he had been in regular contact with the Boise Airport and the Fire Department. He said they had set a number of restrictions, and he met every one of them, including building the Firewalker’s Wall of Fire in just 15 minutes instead of an hour.
Fire safety, environmental concerns
“At the last minute, they just said it’s not harmonious with the environment,” Myers said. “And then I asked for a second chance at it. And they basically came back and said that violated National Fire Protection Act.”
Myers said he asked what provision of the law he violated. “I’ve been doing this for 22 years,” he said. “I want to know if I’m violating the National Fire Protection Act.” But he said he got no response.
The city declined to comment on the claim through Maria Weeg, city spokesperson.
“We don’t comment on tort claims at the time we receive them,” Weeg said in an email. “The information contained in the tort claim is different than what is contained in the actual lawsuit, so commenting at this point would be premature and could interfere with future legal proceedings.”
Myers said he always tries to work with the community where his airshows take place. In California one year Myers said there was a dog shelter next to the airport and they worried that the dogs would be agitated by the noise, so Myers aimed the dynamite away from the dog shelter. Later Myers said the shelter owner said the dogs were not disturbed at all by the show.
Myers was frustrated when he learned that the city issued over 100 permits for firework shows ahead of July 4.
“If you consider that each one of those (firework shows) shot two shots, my entire performance over three days is 57 shots,” he said. ”When they blacken the skies of Boise with fireworks and smoke, how was that harmonious with the environment?”
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