Here in Arizona we have been under a red flag extreme fire danger warning for weeks due to dry and windy conditions. Last Sunday a brush fire was caused by a tire blowout. No one in their right mind would launch flares into the sky suspended from weather balloons, they would be arrested!

My friends in the Tucson Pyrotechnic Circus use flares and helium balloons in their performances. It costs $1200 for enough helium-filled weather balloons to lift a petite acrobat high above the crowd, and it takes a crew to do it. During their night shows, they use a crane to lower the "Amelias", the flying girls, out of the sky on a rotating armature carrying magnesium flares. The flares burn bright pink and smoke up the arena. They only burn for a few minutes and cost $20 a piece.

Since the balloons cost about $100 each, sending up four of them would be an expensive, dangerous, and illegal stunt. There would be retrievable debris, which would constitute littering, plus the fact that flares have been known to cause forest fires. In this month's issue of "Field and Stream", flares are recommended for use in starting campfires in the rain.

Who is this Phoenician fellow who sends up weather balloons from his back yard, is he some rogue party planner who has his own helium tank?

On Tucson Pyrotechnic performance nights, the TPD helicopter pilot can see the girl in the silver leotard suspended from a cluster of weather balloons high in the sky. The fliers hanging from the tall crane save the flares for use.

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