A day in the life of a pyrotechnician

What’s involved in delivering a spectacular firework display for a wedding couple in the middle of their special day?

1 ) Several days ago the show was designed by a member of the MLE display team.  In this case Ben Johnson.

2 ) The fireworks were selected and ready in our storage magazines.

3 ) Earlier in the week the laptop for tonights pyromusical was programmed and loaded with the show design.

4 ) Yesterday hardware and the sound system was loaded in to a van, the fireworks for the display – all that’s required is the fireworks which shall be collected on route to the display.

5 ) Team will arrive on site around 2pm and begin rigging the display at the venue.

6 ) Firstly hardware is laid out and fireworks loaded, waterproofing is done if the weather is not looking too kind.

7 ) Once all the fireworks are out they are wired into the firing system, in this case FireByWire digital control.

8 ) Several hours later the display will be complete, and a special system test is performed using the laptop.  This checks for the presence of each firework in the show plan.  Any missing will be checked and rectified.  We like to think we have a very high standard at MLE and it is often our teams achieve “100%” on initial rigging – something the crews aim for.

9 ) Sound is setup and tested, then all is well for firing.

10 ) Display is fired on or around the time the client asks (we don’t just fire it at the specified time, we’ll wait for a “nods up”)

11 ) Around 9pm the crews will start clearing up

12 ) Around 11pm the crews will leave site

13 ) 12am the team will arrive back at the MLE warehouse and unload

14 ) 1am everyone is at home relaxing after a days work as a pyrotechnician.