Boom! Fireworks Business Pops Up In Orange

By Gary Jeanfaivre

Fireworks have become synonymous with the Fourth of July and now Orange residents have a place in town to purchase them legally.

The TNT store -- one of about 50 that have popped up in Connecticut and Rhode Island -- opened at 519 Boston Post Road in Orange last Saturday. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day through Saturday, July 6.

The store is being run by Milford resident Mark Worthington. He's the manager of Olympia Sports in Branford, but is taking the next week off to sell the fireworks for TNT, just as he has for the past four years.

"It's fun," he says. "And a nice way to make a little extra money."

TNT offers 35 varieties of fireworks, from the $6 "Crickets" that last for about 45 seconds to the $49.99 "Power Combustion" that will give you a 5-minute display. There are also fireworks packages that cost as much as $149.99.

All of them are legal in Connecticut, Worthington says.

The key to safely lighting fireworks is common sense, he says. That means doing things like:

• Maintaining a safe distance
• Lighting them on a flat surface
• Keeping a hose or water source nearby
• Soaking used fireworks to be sure they are out and will not ignite anything they may come in contact with

It's hard to miss the bright orange fireworks signs along Route 1 in front of TNT, but just in case, it's in the shopping center across from Applebee's, next to Bob's Discount Furniture.