The Epic Fireworks Blog

Superb photograph from the opening ceremony of  The Burj Khalfa on 04/01/2010. This is now the tallest building in the world.

Half a mile tall – 168 floors. The design is said to be inspired by the shape of a desert flower. It cost 1.5 billion dollars and took 6 years to complete, bargain.

Heres the video of the opening ceremony which launched more than 10,000 individual fireworks and also feature some cool light show using the 868 stroboscopic lights that are built into the tower and some pretty funky beams on the ground.

And on a completely different note, but jsut to give you an idea of the size of the thing here is a cool video of 2 daredevils base jumping from the building. Awesome.

After the tremendous turnout for the event, some bright spark in Newcastle decided to light the fireworks in broad daylight, tantamount to a crime. Apart from that fiasco the whole event was a real success. Thankfully these turned out to be just the warm up fireworks and the real thing came later, along with a trapeze artist on a heliopshere (just like the Romans would have used).

Over 12 thousand hand selected volunteers were involved in lighting the 500 beacons along the 84 mile-long Wall National Path Trail from Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend in North Tyneside through Northumberland to Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria.

The fireworks were spectacular said many of the spectators and although they feared at several points for the safety of the girl stuck on the bottom of the heliosphere, a good day and night was had by all.

The 4,000 large crowd which gathered at Wallsend witnessed a startling performance by the German Theatre group Apu which climaxed with four winged angels standing atop the site’s observation tower as the first of the beacons was lit, all filmed from above by a camera crew in a helicopter (and you thought there was a recession on) this was all topped off with what can only be described as a fireworks display. As it was a fireworks display.  Of course it would be irresponsible for us here to fail to mention that with 500 large fiery beacons marking the Romans wall that there was more than one “Roman Candle” being lit that night (and the award for the worst joke of the day goes to…).

The event, which captured national attention, was used to bring more awareness of the World Heritage site that marked the Roman Empires most Northerly point. It is worth mentioning here that although the Romans were able to capture most of Europe with ease, they were unable to take Scotland finding the Scottish methods of fighting (using broken buckfast bottles) to scary for them, the wall was built to keep the invading barbarian hordes from the North from invading their empire.

In Tehran, the capital of Iran, the big boss Ayatollah Khamenei has asked his people to boycott the Persian fire festival (Chaharshanbeh-Suri) which is scheduled for Tuesday. He called the festival un-Islamic as it is essentially praising fire and said it causes harm and corruption. Going on to say that it is best avoided.

The festival is very old, dating back to before the 7^th Century when the country was mainly Zoroastrian (what’s this? I hear you ask. It’s a proper old religion from before Islam was in Iran, ooh, I hear you say)

Traditionally Iranians have celebrated the fire festival by lighting bonfires and jumping through the flames. All innocent – if foot scorching – fun.

Recently people have died in the region while making firecrackers for the festival and many fireworks shops there have been closed down.

The authorities are reportedly a bit worried that the governments opposition will use the traditional festival as a chance for protesting against the June 2009 re-election of  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – at this point its all gone a bit political so we are best not saying anything more on that subject.

Back to the fireworks, 128 people have been arrested for producing and distributing, wait for it, up to 3,000,000 fireworks around the city! Yes, 3 Million!! That’s a lot of firecrackers.

For the last 2 months the police in Tehran have been cracking down on firecrackers, sparklers and rockets and even home-made grenades. They have urged citizens to report any illegal firework activity to the local police.

The Chaharshanbeh-Suri (Fire Festival) festival takes place on March 16 the last Tuesday of the old year. Which is a bit odd as the word Chaharshanbeh means Wednesday and Suri is red. The red symbolises the burning sun, as do the bonfires. They are kept alight all night to welcome the New Year.

Each year, there are many injuries due to the fire festival, last year there were 1817 reported accidents requiring medical treatment, three people were killed and four others were seriously injured. Not sure whether this is due to the improper use of fireworks or the bouncing over bonfires. Either way, we do not recommend using dodgy fireworks or jumping through fire but we do wish good luck to the people of Iran in their celebrations and hope this year’s event is accident free.

Its not only Iranians that like to hurl their body through flames, it seems to be a human thing in general and all around the world there are examples of festivals and celebrations where it is customary to risk life and limb in order to be seen hurtling yourself bodily over bonfires. The picture above is from the Lewes bonfire night celebrations in the UK, where visitors from around the country are positively discouraged from attending.

This dude will almost certainly have a burnt posterior in the morning.

Nutters Revellers at the Noche de San Juan (your thinking, night of St John? No, “Midsummer” believe it or not) celebrations in Spain throw themselves over the bonfire in an age old celebration where people watch each other get burned.

Walt Disney Pictures Fireworks Intro.

In the Bin Yang region of Nanning, Guangxi, China, they celebrate each Chinese New Year with a famous festival.

Held on the 11^th day of the Chinese New Year (also known as the Lunar New Year, or in China, just “The New Year”) Bin Yang is the central attraction of the whole province bringing in half a million locals and visitors to the region to join in the celebrations which include parades, floats (very American), lantern festival and of course the dragon dance in firecrackers.

This local festival has a centuries old history attached to it with its beginnings in the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279), the development into something closer to what we see today happened during the Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644) and finding its place in history and in the cultural calendars of China in the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911). In other words, it did not happen overnight. This is a festival that has grown and developed over the centuries to become what it is today and is steeped in history and culture. This is what has made the Bin Yang Firecracker Dragon Festival so intense and famous across China.

Now let’s see some firecracker dragon dancing!

videos of the awesome fireworks from Skyfest in Limerick 2010. The whole of Limerick was illuminated by these fantastic fireworks set over King Johns Castle. This video was shot from the opposite bank of the River Shannon and shows of the fireworks quite nicely. A great night for Limerick and a great party in the streets and bars afterwards.

The Skyfest Fireworks were just the start of events celebrating St Patricks Day on Wednesday 17th March. We hope you enjoy the video of the fireworks. For more info on Skyfest in Limerick click here.

cool fireworks game for your iphone. touch the screen to see the fireworks going off and add your own photos to the display for the personal touch. Very cool.

This is an incredible and devastating photograph.

This blast took place at the St Helena fireworks factory in Ghargur, Birkirara 27th June 2007. Situated in an unused quarry, nothing remained of the factory after a series of after explosions completely destroyed all traces of it. Men lost their lives and the emergency services were unable to do their job amid fears of further explosions.

This breath-taking image reminds us of the dangers involved in the manufacture of fireworks and in the creation of such abundant beauty, there can be terrible loss.

Always be safe with fireworks.

A CITY newsagent has been hit with a £27,000 fine after Trading Standards found fireworks hanging from live power cables and beneath boxes of lighter fuel at his store.

Tudor Harries, who owns and runs Tudors News in Morriston, was found guilty of two offences of failing to protect staff and public while storing fireworks for sale.

Harries labelled the size of the fine “ridiculous” and said he would be appealing the decision.

City magistrates heard that Trading Standards Officers who visited the shop discovered fireworks hanging from live power cables directly above the heads of staff.

Fireworks were also found in storage beneath boxes of lighter fuel and some were stapled to the wall.

Harries was also found guilty of selling alcohol to a 15- year-old after the youth took part in a test purchase.

Although Harries failed to appear in court, magistrates imposed fines on him reaching £27,000. When approached by the Post, Harries said he had decided to appeal.

He said: “Because of the ridiculous amount, it is now going to Crown Court.”

After considering the facts, magistrates imposed two penalties each of £10,000 resulting from breaches of the Health & Safety at Work (Etc) Act 1974 for failing to protect employees and failing to protect people not in employment but exposed to the risk of improper storage of fireworks.

Cabinet member for the environment, Councillor John Hague, said: “Fireworks are allowed to be sold in controlled circumstances by responsible retailers. Responsible sales prevent people being exposed to the dangers and anti social behaviour that results from the reckless use of fireworks in the community.”

A fine of £2,500 for selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18 was also handed down.

Swansea Council’s head of environmental health services Martin Saville said: “Once again we are disappointed it has been necessary to take action for selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18.” An additional fine of £2,500 was imposed for the offence of displaying fireworks otherwise in accordance with a licence.

Further fines of £200 and £2,500 resulted from offences of displaying fireworks in a manner that was not safe and selling fireworks outside of the prescribed period.

Harries was also ordered to contribute £1,000 towards the council’s costs.

Marvel Fireworks continue to impress us in 2010 with some excellent new releases that are showing the way forward in firework design. Who can forget such incredible barrages as Rogue Vipers, Tank Buster and the insane Devils Dungeon. That is not to mention some of our most popular rockets ever (ok we will mention them) like the unstoppable Tomahawk and its little brother the toma-less Hawk. Yes Marvel have certainly delivered so far.

So what of the new range of Marvel Fireworks? Does it live up to the reputation that precedes it? Of course it does!!

The Deep Impact is a big bore 50 shot fan barrage that fires out 5 at a time and gives a brilliant spread that will definately give you something to Marvel at on your displays (see what we did there? Marvel? Get it? Never mind) Scheduled to arrive in store summertime 2010. Get your orders in now!

But enough prattling on, heres the review:

Marvel Fireworks, surely the most popular new firework brand in recent years has added another gem to its crown. Deep Impact is a brand new 50 shot large calibre monster of a barrage that has beautiful timing and exquisite effects.

Massive Golden Palms burst 5 at a time after rising through high reaching, strobing golden mines. These huge palms erupt in beautiful sequence and illuminate the sky with long lasting arms as ruby red dahlias dot the palms with colour. The ending is a great surprise of red and green crossettes that spread rapidly and split across the sky. This barrage really lives up to its name and is already on our must have list for this year.