Behind the scenes at the fireworks display

CENTRAL VALLEY-Pyrotechnic expert Gene Capicotto gave the term "the bombs bursting in air" new meaning last Saturday during an Independence Day celebration at Monroe-Woodbury High school. His company, Garden State Fireworks, brought their awe-inspiring show to Woodbury with more than 300 fireworks. Using road flares to light their fuses, Capicotto shot shells packed with explosives into the air from thick cardboard tubes for 30 minutes. Above his work area (which looked like a war zone) the shells popped, turning into bright arrangements of color and dancing fire. Capicotto, who has been shooting fireworks professionally for 44 years, well understands the dangers involved with his business and attributes the presence of all his limbs and extremities to his lucky red work shirt, worn at every show for the last 12 years. Ever young at heart, Capicotto is perfect for the job where you get paid to play with fire, and he couldn't be happier. "You get a rush shooting these things off," said Capicotto. "It gets in your blood, you just love it." The fireworks business is a tradition in his family, brought to America from Italy by his father. Garden State Fireworks was named World Champion in 1982 and Grand World Champion in 1983 at the International Festival of Fireworks in Monte Carlo, France, and given the first-place prize in 1991 and 1994 at the International Fireworks competition in San Sebastion, Spain. Saturday's festivities, which include a parade earlier in the day, were sponsored by the Woodbury Fire Department.