The Daily News

When the idea of setting off more than a quarter of a million firecrackers at one time crossed Matt Brodina's mind, he was pretty much at the mercy of his passion for fireworks at that point.

For the past few years Brodina and his wife wife Nancy have hosted a Fourth of July get together of friends and neighbors in Wyndmere, where they live, which culminates in a large fireworks display.

"I just wondered what it would be like to set off that many firecrackers at once," Brodina said.

Wyndmere’s Matt Brodina (far left) watches as some of the 263,000 firecrackers explode on a city street in Wyndmere on Wednesday. Brodina’s fireworks explosion lasted around seven minutes, meaning approximately 600 firecrackers went off per minute. Daily News photo by Timothy Holmseth. Advertisement

He decided to find out.

With the help of his friend Vance Wiertzema of Breckenridge, Brodina began laying out the 16 cases of firecrackers he purchased. The two men used a large pipe and unraveled the gigantic thread of firecrackers like thread from a large spool.

Each case held 16,000 firecrackers.

With some other firecrackers that were added, the total, Wiertzma said, was 263,000.

With people witnessing the event from the side of the streets, as well as many local children who came down on their bikes to see the popular local event, everyone found out what it would be like when Brodina lit the fuse.

Beginning with a few cracks and pops, the explosions seemed par for the course for a July afternoon in North Dakota.

That was about to change.

The snapping and popping suddenly turned into a deafening roar that was so loud that two people standing beside each other attempting to talk could only see each other's lips moving.

Some felt their equilibrium start to go and began to feel shaky.

Kids with wide eyes and adults with blank expressions stood with their fingers in their ears.

It continued for approximately seven minutes.

The mood was ominous when the deafening thunder suddenly stopped.

Everyone was silent.

Then there was an applause.

Brodina spoke of the ominous feeling that took over when the thousands of explosions had begun.

"I think the mind loses its ability to make sense of what its taking in," he said. "I had to remind myself that it was under control and would end at the end of the firecrackers," he said, noting that a strange sense of helplessness accompanies such a thing.

The math indicates that the ear drum was receiving approximately 626 simultaneous explosions every second - perpetually.

As the kids drove away on their bicycles they yelled out "thank you Matt" to Brodina.

"It was this or a plasma TV," Brodina said, noting that he had to make a choice between buying a new TV or paying for the display.

"I wouldn't be able to share the TV with others," he said.

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Comments

Veronica A wrote on Jun 19, 2009 10:12 AM:

" I used to go this schoool and its a very good school and I really like and miss it but i have moved on and now and a better person but I really liked that school and I hope it lasts for ever!!!!!! Class of 05-06 "




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Marie wrote on Aug 6, 2008 12:27 PM:

" Mr Smith owes the Geffres an apology? How about the Geffres apologize to the community of Hankinson. In two short years that family has torn apart a school, a community, family and friends. They have showed no respect for Hankinson. Hankinson is not their community! It's time for the Geffres to move on. "




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MARY wrote on Aug 5, 2008 11:53 AM:

" AFTER ALL IS SAID AND DONE, I THINK OUR SUPERINTENDENT JESS SMITH OWES THE GEFFRE FAMILY A PUBLIC APOLOGY FOR SOME OF HIS COMMENTS TO THE PRESS. AFTER ALL, HE VICTIMIZED THEM PUBLICLY. IT ISN'T LIKE HE'S TOO BUSY PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN! "




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Ben wrote on Jul 30, 2008 12:21 AM:

" I think he resigned because he knew that people would find out the truth if that meeting took place.....how come after all the media he hyped up to make the Geffres llok bad, did he change his mind and resign?....in my opinion he did it to save his own skin "




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Vern wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:37 PM:

" I agree with the previous poster that this was not about the girls getting playing time. He should probably not be allowed to teach at any age level ever again. "




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Kaye wrote on Jul 27, 2008 8:33 PM:

" There is more to this than just the Geffre's complaints and Jess Smith knows it, why doesn't he just come clean about everything and all complaints there has been on Gravalin in the past three years,he has been covering up and sweeping under the rug so to speak. This isn't just about parents that didn't think their girls got to play enough. Shouldn't the first duty of his position be to protect our children. "




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