Workers prep for 4th of July fireworks spectacular in Palm Springs
A few workers in the valley got up extra early to prep for the local fireworks displays. With the sun yet to fully rise, these workers are wide awake in Palm Springs, to make sure the skies will have the rocket’s red glare, all while avoiding the sun’s own glare.
“That’s why I decided to do it at night,”Andrew Tomboc, a pyro technician with Pyro Spectaculars Inc., said. “It’s nice and cool. There’s no heat exhaustion or anything like that.”
The workers from Pyro Spectaculars are setting up for the annual fireworks show in Palm Springs. They spent hours in the early morning since 2 a.m., making sure all the circuits and wires are good to go, in order to create that magic in the sky.
“Celebrating our nation’s birthday. Patriotic music…and it’s all choreographed,” he said.
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Tomboc said this year’s show is going to be bigger and better than last year’s show. They’re going to be shooting about 600 shells with about a third of shells going off for the big finale.
“We have a couple jellyfish…happy faces…and a whole bunch of patterned designs,” he said.
One local man says, fireworks and the 4th of July go hand in hand.
“It just makes you feel extra patriotic,” Jim Van Dyke, a Palm Springs resident, said. “It makes you feel good about your country.”
The workers are warning people to not overdo the patriotism by trying to shoot off their own fireworks…
“They should be leaving it to the professionals. It’s unpredictable on the different type of product out there,” Tomboc said.
He said their show is done electronically with various safety measures put in beforehand, like leaving room for the flammable fallout from the fireworks.
“Somebody can be potentially burned down or somebody can get burned and accidently…a firework can explode in your hand,” he said.
Avoiding these dangers, Tomboc said will let people have peace of mind to point at the sky and yell “Oh say can you see”.
The show is expected to last over 20 minutes, about 2 minutes longer than last year’s display.
