EAST MILLINOCKET (AP) – A Schenck High School physics teacher whose homemade indoor pyrotechnic device was used in a school musical is in hot water with the law for failing to obtain a fireworks display permit.

Peter Faloon, 44, was issued a summons Monday to appear next month in Millinocket District Court. If convicted of the Class D offense, he could be fined and jailed for up to 364 days.

The state fire marshal’s office received a complaint that Faloon had made a pyrotechnic device used in the musical, “Annie Get Your Gun,” performed May 2 at the school.

The device created both an audio and visual effect by exploding and blowing popcorn over the stage, said Sgt. Stewart Jacobs, fire investigations supervisor with the state Fire Marshal’s Office.

Faloon declined comment on the case and Superintendent Sandra MacArthur of school Union 113 could not be reached immediately for comment.

Concern about indoor pyrotechnics has increased since the February tragedy in Rhode Island in which a rock band’s giant sparklers ignited a fire that destroyed a nightclub, killing 97 people and injuring nearly 200. The band, Great White, had used similar devices in a performance in Bangor two nights earlier.

The same circumstances could have come into play at the musical since there was combustible material nearby, Jacobs said Tuesday. “Any of these are hazardous at best,” he said.

Jacobs said the pyrotechnic device that was discharged at the play contained smokeless powder used in reloading ammunition and an electronic initiating device. Nobody was hurt.

He said the device has been recovered.

AP-ES-05-14-03 1153EDT

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