Pyrotechnician Patrick Cyrana joins WIRED to answer your burning questions about fireworks. How are fireworks designed? How do they get their color? What is the most dangerous firework statistically? Who invented fireworks? How do you become a professional pyrotechnician. Patrick answers all of these questions and more—it’s Fireworks Support.
Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Director of Photography: Constantine Economides
Editor: Richard Trammell
Expert: Patrick Cyrana
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas; Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer
Camera Operator: Mar Alfonso
Sound Mixer: Rebecca ONeil
Production Assistant: Ryan Coppola
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Jason Malizia; JC Scruggs
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Director of Photography: Constantine Economides
Editor: Richard Trammell
Expert: Patrick Cyrana
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas; Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer
Camera Operator: Mar Alfonso
Sound Mixer: Rebecca ONeil
Production Assistant: Ryan Coppola
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Jason Malizia; JC Scruggs
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00I'm pyrotechnician Patrick Serrana, here to answer your questions from the internet.
00:04This is Firework Support.
00:10At ActileFN asks, how do fireworks go up?
00:13Do it have a small fan underneath?
00:15What's up with that?
00:16No, fireworks don't have a small fan that's underneath them.
00:18What they do have is a lift charge.
00:20So when you put the firework into the tube, the first thing that ignites on the bottom
00:24is the lift charge, which sends the firework up into the air, and then it explodes once
00:28it reaches its maximum altitude.
00:30Typically, a firework will go up 70 feet per inch of shell.
00:34Professional fireworks displays could be either 3 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch, or 6 inch.
00:38So if you have a 3 inch firework shell, it'll go up 210 feet into the air.
00:43And that's determined by the lift charge inside of it.
00:46There's other methods of putting the firework up into the air these days.
00:49Disney's using pneumatic or air devices to blow the firework up into the air instead
00:53of using an actual explosion.
00:55So that cuts down on a lot of the smoke that you see during a firework display.
00:58Matt B. Aaron asks, I wonder how fireworks are designed.
01:02I have a model here.
01:03This is a cutaway model of a large display shell.
01:05The first thing that happens is the lift charge explodes, which creates a lot of gas and fire
01:10and pushes the entire shell out of the tube.
01:13At the same time the lift charge gets ignited, the time fuse starts its path up towards the
01:18burst charge.
01:19Now, depending on how big the firework shell is, that'll determine how long the time fuse
01:23is before it gets all the way up to the burst charge, which then will explode the firework
01:27shell in the sky.
01:28This is an example of a smiley face shell.
01:30They lay the stars in a pattern to create exactly what shape they want.
01:33And then when the shell goes up into the sky and it bursts, those stars spread outwards.
01:38Now, this is why you don't always see the smiley face perfect.
01:41Because it's a round ball that's traveling through the sky, you might see the firework
01:44upside down.
01:45You might see a straight line like this.
01:46Or if you're lucky, you might actually get the full smiley face.
01:50At Athena Bread asks, why do fireworks smell so gross?
01:53So I think that would be a matter of opinion.
01:55If you asked myself or other pyrotechnicians, I think we would say, he who has smelt the
01:59smoke is never free again.
02:01And that smoke mainly contains sulfur.
02:03The sulfur is one of the main components in black powder, which consists of potassium
02:07nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal.
02:08Without the sulfur, the black powder wouldn't be able to burn as rapidly, and it would more
02:12fizzle out rather than create a rapid explosion of fire.
02:15When the sulfur burns, it creates a chemical called sulfur dioxide, which produces that
02:19nasty rotten egg smell that you're smelling.
02:22At JohnnyV453 asks, how do electronic firing systems work for firework displays?
02:28So electronic firing systems have three main components.
02:31The remote, the module, and the igniter, or the e-match.
02:34The modules will go out in the field near to the fireworks.
02:37They can be either wired or wireless.
02:39They typically go about nine feet from the fireworks themselves, because that's the average
02:44length of an e-match.
02:45Each terminal will represent a different firework that will go off.
02:48So this terminal might go at the three second mark of the show, but this terminal might
02:52go for the finale.
02:53When the button is pressed on the remote, the signal will go to the module, then igniting
02:57the end of the electric match tip, which will then ignite the firework.
03:00Electric matches have a special chemical composition on the end of them that when voltage goes
03:04through them, it creates a bright flash and spark, which ignites fireworks.
03:09There's also a protective shroud that usually goes over the match tip because they're friction
03:13sensitive to make sure that you don't accidentally have an issue where it'll ignite due to friction,
03:18igniting your fireworks prematurely.
03:19Now, electronic firing systems can work in two ways.
03:22You can either do it manually, where you press one button at a time and each fire will go
03:26off, or you can choreograph it on the computer.
03:28At Bainton Ward asks, firework shows are so funny because like for the first few minutes
03:33you're like, whoa, that's cool.
03:35And then for the next 10 minutes, you're like, so that was the finale, right?
03:38And then it keeps going.
03:39So to capture the audience's attention in a professional firework display, we like to
03:43build in little sequences into the display that create false finales or mini finales.
03:47And then we continue with the body of the display until we reach the actual finale.
03:51One of the ways we do that is with choreographing software to ensure that you don't have any
03:56dead air or what we call sky puke is where you have too much fireworks in the sky.
03:59The lines along the bottom of the screen represent fireworks along a timeline.
04:04You could put down a musical track and then each of the fireworks could be set off right
04:08at a certain beat or note of the song.
04:10So these lines show the height of the firework and where they will break.
04:14Some fireworks will go up to 210 feet, others will go up to 280, 350 feet.
04:19This display is for a custom wedding, which was two songs long.
04:23So this one happens to be a six minute custom pyromusical.
04:27Finale 3D is the most widely used choreographing software for fireworks.
04:30This software can also be used as a simulation for customers.
04:33We can make a video of the fireworks ahead of time and then show it to the customer to
04:36see if that's what they want based on the music and the choreographing that we design.
04:40At IceEagle76 asks, where are most fireworks made?
04:44There's one province in China where almost all the fireworks are made.
04:47That's where all of the black powder is sorted.
04:49That's where all of the casings are made.
04:51That's where all of your consumer fireworks and your display fireworks that you see on
04:54the 4th of July are packaged and processed before they're shipped out to other countries.
04:57At Dave from up north asks, can fireworks only fire at a certain height, meaning you
05:02are safe to fly above and be safe?
05:04When you're doing a professional fireworks display, you do have to notify the FAA and
05:08you have to get a notice to all airmen, which is called the NOTAM.
05:10A NOTAM notifies the FAA and all planes flying in the area that there will be a firework
05:15display from a certain time up to a certain altitude.
05:18We'll also try to reach out to any pilots in the area and they'll warn us, hey, if you
05:21fire at us, we'll fire back.
05:22We do a lot of fireworks shows near Air Force bases.
05:25The Air Force might have flying maneuvers and stuff that they can't reschedule.
05:29So what we have to do at that point is pause the firework display, make sure that it's
05:32safely out of our airspace, and then we could resume the firework display afterwards.
05:36At CyFryEbooks asks, how do fireworks get their colors?
05:39The main component in fireworks is black powder.
05:42Black powder consists of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate.
05:45And this, when burned, creates more of an orange fire.
05:48Black powder has different consistencies.
05:49The finer black powder burns rapidly and it's used for things like a burst charge in the
05:54sky where you need a big, rapid explosion.
05:56Whereas the coarser black powder would be used for more of a lift charge where you need
06:00a lot of fire to create the burst up in the sky.
06:03To create the reds, the greens, the blues, and the whites, you add coloring agents such
06:06as barium, strontium, copper.
06:09This is strontium carbonate.
06:11It's a coloring agent that's added to black powder.
06:13It's what's used to create the red color.
06:16Some of the more difficult colors to do are bright whites, which create a lot of magnesium,
06:20titanium.
06:21And this powder would be an aluminum powder, which creates the loud bangs and explosions
06:26in salutes or reports.
06:28A salute is just the bang that you hear.
06:30So aluminum is the main component in that, and it creates the bright flash and the loud
06:33noise.
06:35Remember that time when San Diego's entire fireworks show went off and was over in 30
06:40seconds?
06:41Oops.
06:42Yeah, I remember that.
06:43I think a lot of people that were there agreed it's definitely one of the most spectacular
06:46fireworks shows they've ever seen.
06:48Firing systems all run off of electricity.
06:50So it could have been a surge of electricity, it could have been some sort of malfunction
06:54which the computer decided it was going to fire all cues at once.
06:58There's lots of things that could go wrong during a professional firework display.
07:01The mortar could detonate inside of the firework tube, which could create an explosion, sending
07:06all the other firework tubes around it to lay in a manner where when they blow off,
07:10the fireworks not pointing straight up in the air anymore.
07:12It could be pointing towards the audience, the spectators, the crew.
07:15And one thing I could say about pyros is when we make a mistake once, we tend to not make
07:19it again.
07:20At BS Hoop asks, what was the last innovation in fireworks?
07:24Purple?
07:25Actually, purple has been around for a decent amount of time.
07:27Purple is a combination of both red and blue coloring agents.
07:30I would say one of the more recent innovations in fireworks would be the introduction of
07:34the ghost shell.
07:35In a ghost shell, you have stars that burn in the sky that are covered with a powder
07:39where they don't show their color as they're burning in the first part of the display.
07:42So you don't see the flash in the sky.
07:44And then these will start burning in the sky, creating what looks like a fade pattern.
07:49Some other innovations that I would say have taken place recently in the firework industry
07:52would be Disney's use of microchips to explode the fireworks into the sky instead of using
07:57a time fuse.
07:58Microchips are controlled by a radio frequency signal, and when they reach the right part
08:02in the sky or the right part in the song, they'll go off perfectly to make sure that
08:06they're synchronized exactly as they should be.
08:08Another cool innovation in fireworks isn't just in the fireworks themselves, but in the
08:12way that the fireworks are lit.
08:13So what people are doing now is they're taking comets, which create the large streak across
08:17the sky, and they're putting them in different patterns in different racks and then firing
08:21them with electronic firing systems to the exact right timing where each comet is at
08:26a different angle.
08:27And it creates a perfect parabolic effect, which looks like a geometric shape in the
08:31sky.
08:32At Terra Monique asks, who invented fireworks?
08:34Like who is the first person to put this together?
08:37I'm guessing it was an accident.
08:38So approximately 2000 years ago, a Chinese cook mixed together three common kitchen ingredients
08:43at the time.
08:44Saltpeter, which is potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.
08:47Shortly after realizing that this combination of fireworks created an explosion, they started
08:52experimenting and putting them into capsules or bamboo sticks to contain the explosion.
08:57These became the first version of a firecracker.
08:59These bamboo sticks were then used as a tradition to ward off evil spirits in the Chinese culture.
09:03At Danbury Patch asks, statistically, what is the most dangerous firework?
09:07So statistically, the most dangerous firework is a sparkler.
09:12Sparklers can burn at up to 2000 degrees.
09:14Parents and caregivers might think of this as the least dangerous firework and leave
09:18children unattended or unsupervised with these, causing more injuries than you would realize.
09:22In my opinion, mortars these days can be fairly dangerous as well.
09:27Mortars are the larger fireworks that you hear when you see those large bangs in the
09:30sky.
09:31These create the big explosions.
09:33This would be your standard size mortar tubes that you could buy off the shelf at a consumer
09:37store.
09:38A mortar tube used in a professional display could be three, six, or even up to 12 inches.
09:42So typically what you would do with a mortar shell is get the fuse to its longest point,
09:45drop it down the tube, leave enough outside, and then light the end of the fuse.
09:51You see the green fuse, which is called VSCO fuse.
09:53It's called a safety fuse.
09:54This buys you enough time where you could safely get away from the firework before it
09:58launches up into the air.
09:59There's lots of things that could go wrong with mortar shells when using them.
10:02Most people don't realize they could go in either way.
10:05And it's very hard to see if you're using it at night, which way is the right way.
10:08The shell could be put down into the firework upside down, or the actual mortar tube might
10:12malfunction.
10:14A professional mortar tube is going to be made out of an HDPE or high density polyethylene
10:19plastic.
10:20So instead of fracturing or fragmenting, if the firework would accidentally explode inside
10:24of it, it would just expand.
10:26So it doesn't send any fragments or shrapnel anywhere.
10:29Most consumer fireworks are made out of a cheaper fiberglass material.
10:32So you always want to be aware that when you are using them, you have it faced in the right
10:36direction and always have a sober adult in charge.
10:38At BloodyRed08 asks, why did they have to ban M80s?
10:42For the children.
10:43It was decided in 1966 that too many bodily injuries to children were occurring as a result
10:48of M80s and they were taken entirely off the market.
10:51That doesn't mean you can't find an M80 today.
10:53Unfortunately, many black marketplaces are still manufacturing M80s to fill the void
10:58and to fill the demand that's still there for people that still want that big bang.
11:02An M80 will contain about three grams of flash powder in comparison to a stick of dynamite,
11:07which can contain up to 190 grams of powder.
11:10Flash powder is a mixture of black powder and other heavy metals that create the bright
11:14flash like aluminum or magnesium.
11:16So although these are a lot less dangerous and contain less powder than a stick of dynamite,
11:21they're still banned from the market.
11:23After September 11th, fireworks containing over a certain amount of powder were pulled
11:27off the market so that way they couldn't be misused, opened up, and the powder could be
11:31used for various purposes other than displaying fireworks.
11:35At Dr. Kevo asks, what kind of fireworks is your favorite?
11:38I like the gold drippy drippies.
11:40So do I.
11:41So the gold drippy drippies are actually the most favorite firework among most pyrotechnicians.
11:45They come from Japan.
11:46They have special chemicals in the black powder, which allow them to rain down to the ground
11:51slightly longer than a normal firework would, giving you that lasting gold impression in
11:55the air.
11:56Traditional firework displays, when they have this effect, it'll occur as the finale because
12:01it's really the most dangerous firework in the firework display.
12:05You're going to have fire all around you.
12:06So you don't really want that to happen during the entire display because you could have
12:09fires all over the place as a result of the fire hitting the ground.
12:12I'm not saying that the exact design is a secret, but it's not widely known as to how
12:16it's made.
12:17There are a lot of people that try to recreate the effect, but the traditional Japanese Kimuro
12:21is definitely something that the Japanese do specifically well and really can't be recreated
12:26by many other people.
12:27At Helium Kibbs asks, how do idols stand on stage while pyrotechnics blast all around
12:32them?
12:33I flinch watching it through a screen.
12:35The fireworks used for the stage setting have a specific height and duration that they
12:39fire for.
12:40They're also made in a laboratory setting as opposed to consumer fireworks, which are
12:43made in a factory.
12:44So the fireworks that we use on stage and in theatrical performances are very safe,
12:49low fallout.
12:50So they don't have anything that's going to come down and burn.
12:52Just like artists will get together and rehearse with their dancers and their band ahead of
12:56time, they also get together with their pyro crews and rehearse.
12:59At Dub Woods asks, do fireworks even work in the rain?
13:02Yes, we do a lot of firework shows for weddings.
13:05And what we tell our wedding clients is you can't change your wedding date, whether it's
13:07going to rain or not.
13:08So we have to make sure the fireworks are going to work in the rain regardless.
13:11So what we do is we cover the firing systems, the modules and the remotes themselves in
13:16plastic to make sure the weather doesn't affect them.
13:18And then we also wrap the fireworks in a small thin plastic as well.
13:21So that way when we fire it, it burns right through and goes right through the plastic.
13:25So the rain isn't really an issue.
13:27However, heavy winds and thunderstorms, so winds above 25 miles an hour and thunder will
13:32prohibit a firework display from happening.
13:34Matt Christina AXB asks, you cannot convince me that there is a difference between consumer
13:39and professional fireworks.
13:41Our neighborhood is insane right now.
13:42The line between consumer and professional fireworks has been being pushed closer towards
13:47the professional fireworks.
13:49Certain fireworks are being brought into the country as professional, but then rebranded
13:52and reclassified once they get here into consumer.
13:55So yes, the consumer fireworks that you're seeing are definitely getting louder and bigger.
13:58Now you have up to three inch, even four inch consumer shells that you could buy, which
14:03wasn't allowed previously.
14:04At Kurt Brobane asks, how does one go about becoming a fireworks pyrotechnician?
14:09I would reach out to your local firework company or your local special effects company and
14:13see if they have any openings as maybe a volunteer.
14:16You want to make sure you have the right temperament for it.
14:18You have to be someone that's calm in the midst of chaos.
14:20During a firework display, you have bombs going off all around you.
14:24You might have several fires that might occur in the display site, in the fallout area that
14:27have to be extinguished, and that's just part of doing business.
14:30Matt Ibrahim Ashir asks, how do you know if a firework is going to work?
14:34When the fireworks manufacturer build the firework, do they test all the fireworks before
14:38they ship them out?
14:39No.
14:40Where do you think the term dud comes from?
14:42It's mainly a firework term.
14:44Part of the fun of fireworks comes in finding out whether it works or not.
14:47You have to make sure that you know what you're getting.
14:49Most fireworks have QR codes on them nowadays, so you could watch a video of what it is ahead
14:53of time, but make sure that you're getting a firework that's appropriate for the setting
14:56that you're using it in.
14:57Don't get a firework that's going to go up several hundred feet in the air if you live
15:00in an apartment and you're using it in your parking lot.
15:03At artsyhonker asks, how does one safely dispose of a firework, unused, found in the shed?
15:09We don't want to set it off and aren't sure how old it is.
15:11Likely it's at least a few years old.
15:14Smaller non-aerial fireworks can be soaked and then double wrapped in plastic bags and
15:18put in your normal garbage.
15:20Larger aerial fireworks, you might want to reach out to a fire department and see if
15:23they could properly dispose of these fireworks for you.
15:25Matt Kim Winehouse asks, well, rest in peace to the Earth's ozone layer after tonight's
15:31fireworks.
15:32So yes, fireworks obviously are a combustion effect and they do have some effect on the
15:36ozone layer.
15:37But when you consider volcanoes, all the combustion from all the airplanes and jets and stuff
15:41like that, there's definitely other stuff that are contributing to the ozone layer.
15:45Disney is actually the largest importer and user of fireworks in the country.
15:49There is a myth that the ozone above Disney is totally charred, which means that's probably
15:54why most people are getting a little bit more tan at Disney World than they are around
15:57the rest of the world.
15:58But there's no evidence to support that.
16:00At Sunflower Rose asks, why is South Carolina so obsessed with fireworks?
16:04Been in the state for 15 minutes and already passed three fireworks stores.
16:08There are certain laws in certain states that differentiate what fireworks can be used.
16:13For example, in California and New Jersey, we're only allowed to use what's called safe
16:16and sane fireworks, which are sparklers, fountains, and novelties.
16:20But other aerial states, such as Pennsylvania and South Carolina, could use the whole spectrum
16:24of fireworks.
16:25Roaming candles, aerial cakes, mortar tubes, and likewise.
16:29So these are all the questions for today.
16:31Be safe out there, pyros.
16:32Keep all your fingers.
16:33This has been Fireworks Support.