Fire on the water: Crews set the aquatic stage for today's WaterFire event

Jul. 21—SHARON — A boat, crewed by four men, nudged wire baskets around the Shenango River as directed by Brandi Baros, a boat captain for WaterFire Sharon, from the State Street Bridge.

This morning, Baros and the boat teams will fill the baskets, called braziers, with wood retrieved from a pontoon boat upriver. That wood will be set alight this evening to provide the WaterFire signature fire-on-the-water vista.

Sharon's 11th year of WaterFire opens today at 2 p.m., with vendors, performers, food trucks and an expanded children's recreation area. With the big show set for today, Friday was dedicated to setting up, with one of the most important tasks — positioning the 55 floating braziers in the optimal locations for tonight's main attraction.

"Keep going a little more," she said into a hand-held radio that connected her to the boat. "A little more toward center."

Baros along with the boat crew of Chuck Dodd, Nate Hamilla, Bill Dodd and — tasked with the vital duty of nudging each brazier into place — Todd Carenbauer.

As Carenbauer pushed each brazier into place, Baros signaled him by raising both arms skyward in the manner of an American rules football referee signaling a touchdown.

Across the bridge, a row of American flags flapped vigorously in a breeze blowing across the river. The gusts added a challenge to Baros' team's job, she said.

"There's an added degree of difficulty when the wind is blowing," she said. "Makes the boat harder to control."

There's a trick to placing the braziers, which are suspended on short chains from anchors on the riverbed. Baros said she has to leave a channel down the river's center while giving WaterFire's gondola boat enough space to avoid underwater obstacle.

"He was getting a little close to the sandbar," she said after the boat crew placed one brazier.

Setting up the braziers typically takes about four or five hours — Baros and the boat team were out at 9 a.m. Friday and finished by 2 p.m. They will remain in place until the second WaterFire event on Sept. 16, which means less work two months from now.

"It gets much easier for the second fire," she said. "This is the hard one."