A family-owned fireworks company is preparing to stage the largest pyrotechnic display in recorded history above the skies of Washington D.C.
Pyrotecnico, a firm with five generations of family expertise, will attempt to fire off 850,000 individual fireworks in a single 40-minute show.
The spectacular display is planned to celebrate America’s 250th birthday on Independence Day, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators to the National Mall.
“I mean, it is the biggest show that we’ve ever done,” Rocco Vitale, president of Pyrotecnico, told CBS News, adding that his earliest memories of fireworks were tied to Washington D.C.
The current world record for a single fireworks display stands at 810,000 shells, set during a New Year’s Eve event in the Philippines in 2016, according to Guinness World Records.
That previous record-setting display lasted just over an hour, meaning Pyrotecnico’s show would surpass it in scale while completing in a significantly shorter window.
Eight barges positioned along the Potomac River will serve as firing platforms, each equipped with GPS-guided communication systems that trigger automatically at a pre-set time.
Rocco Vitale explained the technology, saying: “Each firing location has a communication device, and its all set on GPS. And once the time of the show is put into the system, it goes at that time.”
Pyrotecnico’s CEO, Stephen Vitale, set out the company’s broader ambition, stating: “Our main focus is to make this the most memorable fireworks display that this generation will have ever seen.”
Industry figures have been quick to put the scale of the event into sharp perspective for those unfamiliar with professional pyrotechnics.
Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, noted that the Macy’s show typically features between 60,000 and 85,000 aerial shells, making the D.C. display roughly ten times larger.
“Macy’s has traditionally been what I call the granddaddy of them all,” Heckman said, underlining just how dramatically Washington’s event eclipses the historic benchmark.
The fireworks will be launched from ten separate locations, including West Potomac Park, the Reflecting Pool, and multiple barges spread across the Potomac River.
Freedom 250, the organiser of the Salute to America 250 Celebration and Fireworks on the National Mall, confirmed that President Trump will deliver remarks at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time.
The fireworks display itself is scheduled to begin at 10:45 p.m., capping an evening expected to attract enormous crowds to the centre of the American capital.
For the first time in Washington D.C. history, July 4 has been designated a National Special Security Event, a classification typically reserved for presidential inaugurations and the Super Bowl.
U.S. Secret Service official Tara McLeese confirmed that members of the public will be required to pass through TSA-style magnetometer screening before entering the National Mall.
The CBS primetime special covering the event will be hosted by CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil alongside Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner, airing at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.