For the past two months along Highway 4 in Brentwood, a mythical creation has drawn the eyeballs of passers-by.

It’s a mix of metal, wires and fire. The creature was compiled, like Frankenstein’s monster, in a barn-style welding shop owned by Tracy resident Bill Kirk.

The 16-foot-tall creature’s jack-o’-lantern head is made of 18-gauge plate sheet metal. Its spine is composed of square tubing. Its ribs were leftover scraps from a handicapped handrail on Fine Street. Its arms, legs and hands were made out of whatever Kirk had lying around in his shop.

Altogether, it looks kind of like Jack Skellington, the main character from Tim Burton’s movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas” — if he guzzled propane.

The pumpkin man is probably the area’s coolest Halloween decoration. Kirk, his wife, Jennifer, and a bunch of their friends will have a private party out in the sticks this weekend, with the fire-breathing creation welcoming guests.

Kirk said its bursts of flame — which come from its right palm, its head, its heart, its arms and its left knee — are motion-sensored, so whenever someone drives by, a pyro’s dream will come true.

“Well, I’ve always been a little on the dark side,” said Kirk, who noted that this is the first time he’s built something this large. “One guy came into the shop, saw it and said, ‘Dude, you’re a little demented, aren’t you? You got a screw loose or something?’

“I’ve always been into the metal, evil-looking things.”

To make it light up, Kirk used equipment from a friend’s 24,000-volt Jacob’s Ladder and some spark plugs, which he figures can stand the heat. The pumpkin man will be fenced off, he said, so no one can wander over and become barbecue.

Kirk, 40, has been welding

since he was 12, and he claims to have always had a more artistic bent. He said he entered an art contest when he was 13. His creation, made out of metal, of course, was bumped from the kid to the adult category but only merited honorable mention.

Kirk didn’t enter another contest after that, but he has since dedicated his life to that kind of art. He’s made a flat cutout of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, as well as a smaller replica of the pumpkin man’s head, which opens to reveal a fake rat.

Kirk said his dad is more of a straight-laced guy and doesn’t see the point in welding for fun, but the two get along together fine.

“He’s the artist,” said Kirk’s father, Doug Kirk, who founded the family welding business in 1978. “It’s probably not a moneymaker, no, but that’s not what it’s about. Not many people would do it. Not many people could do it.”

This isn’t the first time Bill Kirk has made an outstanding Halloween prop. For a friend’s party a year ago, he filled a swimming pool with more than 25 pounds of dry ice to create an eerie fog bank.

By next Halloween, Kirk said he plans to up the ante and learn more about animatronics, aiming to make the pumpkin man — or at least its head — move.

“All the reactions that I’ve gotten so far have been over the top,” he said. “I’m really expecting the bar to be set high for next year.”

• In the Spotlight is a weekly profile in Our Town. To nominate someone or to comment on this story, contact Our Town Editor Justin Lafferty at 830-4269 or jlafferty@tracypress.com.

Meet Bill Kirk

• Age: 40

• How long in Tracy: 32 years

• Education: Tracy High School; San Joaquin Delta College; bachelor’s in manufacturing engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

• Work: Owner, Kirk Welding in Brentwood

• Family: Wife, Jennifer, a sixth-generation Tracy resident

• Welding experience: 28 years

• Pumpkin man dimensions: 16 feet tall; 12 feet wide; 18-foot wingspan; 24,000 volts of power