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Designing A Professional Looking Consumer Firework Display
This area was written as a guide for building a professional looking display
with Class C or consumer fireworks. There are multiple number of pieces that
are just as good as the professional pieces. I have been setting off consumer firework
displays for the last 6 years and with help from other firework enthusiasts
(my team) I am providing this guide and tips on how you can to.
Where should I set these off?
Picking a good location to shoot fireworks is the foundation for developing a great professional looking show. The first thing you should look for is an area that will be large enough to cover the fallout area ( The area where burning material will fall from the pieces). This should be free from anything that is combustible and free of objects (ex. powerlines). You also want to make sure that your audience's view is not blocked by trees, etc. This firing area should be level to prevent items from tipping over while they are going off.
You must make sure that the area also has a place where the spectators are a minimum 50-75 ft. from the center of where the fireworks are being lit. For greater safety for the spectators a min of 75-100 ft. is recommended for large cakes, and aerial pieces. If your spectators have to be closer than the recommend distance then maybe you should think about purchasing smaller items.
Some areas that you should stay away from are small lots and streets. You want to stay away from streets as this will interfere with normal traffic. Also with streets there are normally houses on both sides so if a piece should tip over towards a house I don't think your neighbor would appreciate having a mortar shell go through their open window. Small lots are not good due to the spectators can not be a safe distance from them.
Does the size of the firing area affect what I should buy?
When you are purchasing fireworks for your show try to stay away from buying 2 or more of the same item, if your budget is small try to get unique items. You want to make sure that you keep your audiences attention. If you do buy more than one item of the same name try to fuse them together or set them of at the same time to fill more of the sky with color. However, do not light only one at the beginning of the show and another one again after 2 items. Your audience will recognize the item, and lose interests really quick. Another thing to try to avoid is buying to many items with the same type of effect. For example if you buy 3 items that use the flying fish effect, even if there are small difference between the items you should try to avoid that. Another shopping mistake by people who are new to consumer fireworks is not balancing the show between different types of items like; cakes, roman candles, mortars. You want to have a nice mix of items.
Designing your show
I look back at my first show that I did and realized only if I knew then what I know now about having a good show. I have found out that if you plan your show out before you go out and purchase the fireworks you will have a better show. I do this by trying to visualize what I want, and then I think of everything that I could possibly need. Once you get your fireworks spread them out over a table so that you get an idea of what order you want to light them off in. I usually do this in my dining room a few days before the 4th. If more than one person is going to be lighting the fireworks try to have multiple staging areas this will help keep your audience interested in it. I recommend only have one stage of fireworks per person. By having multiple people and areas where fireworks will be lit off you will be able to cover more area and spread your show out.
A few good techniques to improve your show is to combine different firework that will complement each other. For example a neat effect I think is to combine mines with mortars in racks. Articles on how to Build your own mortar racks can be found here. This is a neat effect combination, the mines will go from the ground up and the mortar shells will fill the air. This will help create a beautiful wall of fire. There is also a number of different types of racks that I have designed that you can use for roman candles and rockets to make your show more professional.
A general rule of thumb is to ignite your smaller fireworks first like fountains and novelty items, this will be followed up by small cakes to larger ones, you want to keep on building the excitement. Do not light a larger cake and then light single 96 pearl, it will look very dull, unless you light 20 at the same time
You should start setting up your display while there is still light outside, this is just common sense. By setting up you show during the day you want to be able to make sure every thing is fused together correctly. Also if you have multiple people lighting your show you want them to come before night so that they can see where everything is so they don't trip over it. You must make sure that the fireworks are well braced to prevent them from tipping over. You can check out our area on how to safely brace items to get some ideas of what you should do. If you have anything like mortar racks, or any other type of holder you should also put these in place, and make sure that they are properly secured. Make sure that with any type of rack, that you brace it so it doesn't fall over, and to properly place it perpendicular with your audience. Do not load any of these racks yet, these should only be loaded 60 min. prior to the show. This only applies to single fired shells, if you are fusing a large number of shells together preload the night before.
If you have a large number of mortar shells for your display, you
will want to
unwind the fuses for every shell. By unwinding each shells fuse prior to the
fireworks display this will help decrease the time between
shots. This will also help keep your audience interested in your show,
because it won't have any down time while you take an extra few seconds to
unwind the fuse. For
my shows I have around 200 shells. If you have to reload shells I suggest
you build a shell box to store the shells in before and during your show
with a lid so you can easily access them.
One hour before the show load all of your mortars and fuse them together, if
you want. Check one more time to make sure that you have all of your items
braced properly. Again remember if you have complicated fusing designs
it is all right to preload the night before. When we launched the 18 shots
at once for our finale we pre-fused that the night before.
When setting up your show if there is a possibility of rain in the forecast it is wise to cover your racks and items with a tarp or trash bags just in case there are scattered showers. One year I set up and was all complete and didn't have anything to cover my display with so I had to bring everything back inside. So either have a tarp or trash bags to prevent your fireworks from getting ruined.
If you only have a few fireworks to set off, you won't need an assistant to help. However if you want to light multiple pieces from different areas you will need to have an assistant, so you can light items located in a particular area. With my show 4 years ago I had two 5-shot racks that were located at the ends of the area where I was lighting everything off. I had 4 assistants to help light the different areas and types of pieces in my show. Make sure that if you are going to have more than just yourself lighting the fireworks that you have a plan that you can tell your helpers of what and when to light certain items.
Look at this mess!
After the show there is going to be a lot of cases and other pieces of the fireworks that will need to be cleaned up. If you used your land to set off the show I recommend cleaning up the next morning. If you shot your show on someone else's land you should clean up right after if at all possible. You should have a few garbage bags handy to throw the casings into. It is not recommended to burn what is left over as there might be a little powder left in the pieces. If you think there are a few piece that did not go off have a bucket of water ready and put the item into the bucket and let them sit in there till the next day. If you had any pieces left over read this article about how to safely store items.
Have a fun and safe holiday!