Meet the Artists 2026: Bill Corbett & The Fireball Dudes

Fireballs

Bill Corbett

From: Memphis, Tennessee

For over two decades, when Bill Corbett says he’s about to “warm up the crowd”, the pyro world listens. This year, Sky Wars says thank you to the man behind the Fireball Dudes.

Bill’s Legacy as The Fireball Dude

Bill got his start in pyrotechnics in 2002, and by 2003 he was at PGI learning how to shoot fireballs firsthand — a skill he turned into a full-blown signature act by 2004. Over more than twenty years, he’s built and shot some of the biggest fireballs in the world, always keeping safety the top priority as the scale grows. Just as importantly, Bill has become a go-to fireball mentor in the pyrotechnic world, helping thousands of enthusiasts learn the craft and earning a reputation as one of its most trusted names in pyro.

Behind The “Fireball Dudes” Name

The name has a fittingly offhand origin story. Back around 2002, Bill was forced to change his old Comcast email address when the company was bought out, and kept striking out trying different handles with his own name — until he tried “fireballdude@” on a whim. It was accepted (more or less by accident on Bill’s part), and once it was set, there was no changing it back.

Maybe a couple of years later, as he and his friend Scott Key were shooting fireballs more and more at pyro events they were traveling to, Bill suggested they start calling themselves the Fireball Dudes — and the name stuck.

Bill & MOpyro Go Way Back

Bill’s history with the Missouri Pyrotechnics Association goes back nearly to the beginning — he was on hand for one of the very first “St. Louis Shoot” events, which began in 2005 and was the precursor to what’s now known as Sky Wars. Bill was drawn to MOpyro’s annual club shoot in the St. Louis area because there weren’t many firework-related events around Memphis at the time. What started as Bill and friends having fun shooting fireballs became a filler act between the evening’s pyromusicals, and it gradually grew year after year — as the event itself grew into a large-scale, ticketed show — becoming one of Sky Wars’ biggest crowd draws. Along the way, Bill’s biggest fireballs only got bigger’: a 2020 Supernuke with 550 gallons of gasoline; a 2021 Wall of Fire with a row of 12 giant fireballs; and a 2022 world-record attempt with 1,465 gallons of gasoline — his largest to date.

Passing the Torch

The OG Fireball Dude has known for a handful of years that the time would come to step back, and 2026 marks that transition. At Bill’s request, MOpyro selected Tim Curran a few years ago to pick up the torch — now, Tim is preparing to take full ownership of Sky Wars’ fireball performances in 2027. Tim is already an official Fireball Dude, having run the first fireball cue at Sky Wars for the past two years.

Bill isn’t fully hanging up his mortars just yet, however. As of September 2026, he’s 24 years into shooting fireballs, and he’d set his sights on retiring after the 25-year mark — so even though he says he’s about 90% retired from pyro after this year, he’s planning to take on around four more events in 2027 to close out that milestone.

The Fireball Dudes at Sky Wars 2026

This year’s performance is both a send-off and a showcase. Two guest mortars — Dottie, a 13-foot, 12-inch mortar holding 80+ gallons (provided by Dan Bray), and The Beast, a 9-foot, 24-inch mortar holding over 150 gallons (provided by Travis Barfield) — will be fired between shows as a tribute and a thank-you to Bill.

The Fireball Dudes are again providing a couple of their raffle-winner fireballs (a Sky Wars tradition where a raffle winner comes to the front, pushes a lever, and triggers a fireball), and Tim Curran will produce a Wall of Fire sequence.

For the night’s headline fireball sequence, Bill is preparing a pyrotechnic “Steam Train Wreck” which is expected to close out the evening. Structured like a closing curtain, it combines fireballs converging from far left and right with a true Supernuke (500–600 gallons) at the center. Bill says it will contain more than 800 gallons of gasoline, and they’ll throw in fireworks and salutes that “chase” the massive fireball. Before the sequence launches, an audio narration will play, with a dedication to Ray Garris (the inventor of the pyrotechnic “train wreck” concept who passed away just a few weeks before Sky Wars 2026) and a brief history of the original train wreck stunt that inspired this fiery creation.

What’s Next for Bill

Bill isn’t disappearing from the pyro world — but he is looking forward to a slower pace. He’s hoping to finally take a cruise and maybe even attend some events back home that have long conflicted with his busy Fireball Dude schedule.

As for what he wants people to know before his final Sky Wars performance: for Bill, it was never about impressing anyone — just having fun and doing what he loves.

Sky Wars Fireball Timeline — Bill Corbett & the Fireball Dudes

Bill has joined the Missouri Pyrotechnics Association nearly every year for the event now known as Sky Wars. What began as filler between pyromusicals has grown into one of the evening’s biggest crowd favorites.

• 2020 (first year as “Sky Wars”) — At least 3 large fireball sequences, closing with a Supernuke: 550 gallons of gasoline, 70 lbs black powder, and 250 lbs powdered coffee creamer, framed by fireworks on both sides and into the fireball itself.
• 2021 — 3 fireball sequences, capped off by a “Wall of Fire”: a row of 12 massive fireballs.
• 2022 — World record-attempt fireball: 1,465 gallons of gasoline, plus 175 lbs black powder and 350 lbs coffee creamer, launched alongside other fireworks for a massive display.
• 2023 — No record attempt planned, but multiple massive fireballs to warm up the crowd. Severe weather split the schedule across two days — the largest fireball, originally slated for Saturday’s finale, ended up launching Sunday morning.
• 2025 — Supernuke: 516-gallon fireball combined with 15 lamparies, hard-hitting salutes, nine 6″ golden willow shells, and a cake finish.
• 2026 – A pyrotechnic “Steam Train Wreck”, dedicated to the late Ray Garris, with an estimated 800 gallons of gasoline plus fireworks and salutes.