The grand finale of the Independence Day fireworks show on Pilot Butte was a little less grand after an inspection of the launch site led to the event’s biggest mortars being pulled from use.

Bruce Lawson, owner of Homeland Fireworks, said an inspection by the fire marshal on July 3 found Lawson’s company had not properly secured the mortar troughs with sand, as is required by the state fire marshal when mortars are electrically fired.

Lawson, who had organized the show in Bend at Pilot Butte State Park for the past nine years, said he had always adhered to the federal law, which allows mortar troughs to be used without sand or soil. He said he had never been confronted about the state regulation before.

“I didn’t have ample time to fix the situation,” Lawson said. “A day is not a lot of time to be able to call the parks and rec department to make sure it’s OK and haul sand up to the butte.”

To try to quickly fix the problem, Lawson’s company attempted to use cinders from the butte as a substitute for sand.

Larry Medina, deputy chief of fire prevention for Bend Fire Department, said sand or soft soil are required for aerial shows to absorb a shell blast if one misfires in the tube. If the mortar exploded in the tube with the cinders from the butte protecting it, Medina said the small rocks would become dangerous shrapnel to anyone facilitating the show.

“I would much rather be in the paper for doing the right thing than if someone got hurt from the show,” Medina said.

Lawson considered another solution of using sandbags stacked to the height of the mortar tube, allowed by the fire marshal when operators or assistants are in the immediate area of the launch site. But, he said he really wanted to avoid using sand at all.

“We quit using sand years ago because of cost and because we were leaving piles of sand everywhere,” Lawson said. “I would prefer to keep the parks in their natural state.”

Medina said he worked with the state fire marshal to try to allow the show to go on as planned using the cinders instead of sand.

“They kind of said, ‘you’re on your own,’” he said, “which is something that you never want to hear.”

After attempts to work around and with the rule, Lawson and Medina decided the 8-inch mortars, which launch higher and explode larger, would not be used in the show, which was sponsored by The Bulletin and Bank of the Cascades.

“I did as many phone calls as I could,” Lawson said. “We tried everything, but the smart thing was to pull them, and that’s what we did.”

Lawson said he replaced the 8-inch mortars with 6-inch mortars, which disrupted the timing and impact he wanted.

“We work hard to do our best for our customers,” Lawson said. “When this happens it really is a bummer.”

Lawson said with more time he will be able to consult and collaborate with the fire marshal and state parks to figure out what his company should do for future shows.

But he’s not optimistic about being able to fire 8-inch shells without sand now that the fire marshal took a strong stance on it.

“It looks like 2012 could have been the last year that Bend has 8-inch shells,” he said.