BRICK TOWNSHIP – Township officials will sit down soon to figure out why the extended fireworks show at the last SummerFest turned out to be anything but.
“It only ran about 16 minutes,” Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said. “It should have been 22 minutes.”
A longer fireworks display was scheduled for the last night of SummerFest on Aug. 28, in part because two displays had to be canceled earlier in the summer because of weather conditions.
“We are going to be looking at the number of shells that were supposed to be fired off, how long the show was supposed to be and the reasons for cutting the show shorter,” Acropolis said.
A small brush fire in the woods next to where the fireworks were discharged didn’t help things any, the mayor said.
“The brush truck had to go in and put it out,” he said.
The township received a number of calls last Friday morning from residents who wanted to know why the fireworks display was shorter than anticipated, the mayor said.
“I think they ended up lighting them off too soon,” Acropolis said. “We think either they hit the fuses and the fuses lit other fireworks and they went off too quickly. Or whether the fireworks in the woods was a problem.”
Brick does not pay for the fireworks performances, which are sponsored events, the mayor said.
“It’s not like we go shorted, because we didn’t pay for them,” he said. “If we have to use a different vendor next year, we will.”
Township and safety officials cancelled the fireworks display at the July 3 night of SummerFest, because of an on-shore wind that created potentially hazardous problems.
Fireworks had to be cancelled again at the Aug. 14 SummerFest, because of strong thunderstorms.
Patricia A. Miller can be reached at