Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2009
- Messages
- 9,561
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Having been a member of the PGI for a number of years a number of years ago, I encourage those seriously interested in fireworks to join this organization for at least a year and attend one of their week-long fireworks conventions:
PGI site:
https://www.pgi.org/
PGI Bulletin info:
https://www.pgi.org/membership/bulletin.php
Brochure:
https://www.pgi.org/files/PGI-Brochure-2011.pdf
They have a number of seminars each day of the convention and circus tents full of every kind of consumer firework available, including "antique" fireworks. In 1977, the CPSC got their big noses into the game and mandated a reduction in 1 1/2" flashcracker flashpowder content from up to 200 mg of flashpowder depending upon the brand to a maximum of 50 mg. For a very reasonable price I purchased a large string (100 IIRC) of pre-1977 crackers and lit them (putting the label in my collection; I have a small firecracker label collection that's stored away somewhere; very cool and colorful artwork). Those crackers were L-O-U-D! By comparison, modern 50mg cracker are cr*p.
They have commercial fireworks demos as promos to show operators, demos of product for fireworks stand owners, and competition events for amateur firework makers. They put on a large convention opening show of professional display fireworks that is closed to the public and a larger convention closing show open to the public, but PGI members are in the best viewing location with the public farther away.
During the display events not open to the public you'll see amazing stuff you will never see most anywhere else in the US because the amateur made items are either too expensive to use commercially or are considered too unsafe for liability reasons for your normal general public audience. The only place I've ever seen girandolas launched was at these convention shows. At another, I saw aerial shells during the public event all of which had electronic fuses for timing accuracy so that bursts would be perfectly synced with music broadcast for the event over a local FM radio station.
The public event is opened by the ignition of a huge string of Chinese festival crackers. BTW, these aren't even the best strings I've seen:
The consumer fireworks sold in the circus tents are fired by the PGI member purchasers under strict PGI member volunteer supervision although from what I saw it wasn't that necessary as members didn't seem to be irresponsible idiots or allow their kids to act like idiots. Among things I've seen done there was members (including me) contributing a brick of 1 1/2" crackers to a GIANT public pile of them which was then lit. At one of the conventions we heard an ambulance (the PGI has its own beauty manned with paramedics and MDs who are PGI members) and everyone wondered if someone had been injured by consumer fireworks. NOPE, suspected heart attack.
Those experiences brought me to this idea: make ALL consumer fireworks legal in ALL states with this major, legislated caveat - all MUST be purchased and fired ON SITE and UNDER SUPERVISION. Entry and exit control just as with sporting events in stadiums would prevent fireworks leaving the site. Food concession stands and the circus tents of fireworks would be a safe distance from the firing area which would be, as it was in the case of a number of conventions I attended, a level DIRT field with a firing line marked along its length with a safe distance from the fireworks to be fired. If desired beyond a just a paper handout of rules and liability disclaimer given to the ADULTS entering the area alone or with children, a liability waiver document could be required to be signed. NO SMOKING in the sales tents, NO ALCOHOL, NO INEBRIATED INDIVIDUALS allowed on site. Violate a rule and you are escorted off-site by hired off-duty police and whatever fireworks you have left to shoot confiscated.
If this was done on a widespread basis or, better yet, on an EXCLUSIVE basis in a state, injuries and fires could be GREATLY reduced. Let people get their pyro fix safely on the weekend before the 4th and on the 4th.
Fireworks laws by state
https://www.americanpyro.com/state-law-directory
Graphic of same
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Consumer_fireworks_laws_in_the_USA_by_state.svg
--------
Chinese Consumer Fireworks
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/03/625405653/for-independence-day-fireworks-u-s-depends-on-china
Americans will spend more than $900 million this year on bottle rockets, Roman candles, and other fireworks. But those of us who want to celebrate Independence Day with a bang are almost totally dependent on China for supplies.
"Ninety-nine percent of the backyard consumer fireworks come directly from China," said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. "And about 70 percent of the professional display fireworks are manufactured in China."
It wasn't always this way. A lot of fireworks used to be made in the Midwest, by companies like American Fireworks. Vincenzo Sorgi started the Ohio-based business in 1902, after immigrating from Italy.
He "came through Ellis Island, which then they called the 'Fireworks Beltway,' " said Roberto Sorgi, his great-great-grandson. "Like a lot of the other families that came over, [he] brought a lot of the recipes that their families had used in Italy. So we had two or three generations [of fireworks makers] back in Italy as well."
For much of the last century, Italian transplants dominated the fireworks business, mostly producing pyrotechnics for their own shows.
"We manufactured pretty much everything from scratch," Roberto Sorgi said, "from the stars to putting the shell-casings together to the fuse itself and all the attachments in between."
Around the time of the American bicentennial in 1976, demand for fireworks began to outstrip the U.S. supply, so companies like Sorgi's began importing — from Italy, Mexico, and especially China. This is not a case of China stealing American know-how. The Chinese invented fireworks in the Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years ago.
"Manufacturing fireworks is very labor-intensive," Heckman added. "As the regulations got tighter and people really aren't interested in making things by hand, it made sense to rely more on China to handle that production."
Last year imports of fireworks dwarfed exports by a ratio of more than 40 to 1. But so far, that exploding trade deficit has not prompted the kind of protectionist crackdown that President Trump has directed at other industries.
"Thankfully, the fireworks industry has not been impacted by the tariffs," Heckman said. "We are watching it very, very closely."
Fireworks dealers warn adding a tariff to Chinese imports would turn their sparkling business into a dud. And make no mistake: the domestic business of selling and showcasing fireworks is booming. Sorgi's company has been adding workers year by year. Without the chore of having to hand-craft the rockets, they're able to stage hundreds more shows each year, and not just during this busy Fourth of July season.
"It's becoming a year-round thing where it used to be once or twice a year," Sorgi said. "So the industry as a whole has really just taken off to another level."
What's more, mass-produced Chinese fireworks are now safe enough to be sold legally in nearly every state, and consumer purchases have skyrocketed, from $284 million in 1998 to $885 million last year.
---------
From what I see here, I wonder how often these mom and pop places blow up:
What appears to be a much larger operation:
PGI site:
https://www.pgi.org/
PGI Bulletin info:
https://www.pgi.org/membership/bulletin.php
Brochure:
https://www.pgi.org/files/PGI-Brochure-2011.pdf
They have a number of seminars each day of the convention and circus tents full of every kind of consumer firework available, including "antique" fireworks. In 1977, the CPSC got their big noses into the game and mandated a reduction in 1 1/2" flashcracker flashpowder content from up to 200 mg of flashpowder depending upon the brand to a maximum of 50 mg. For a very reasonable price I purchased a large string (100 IIRC) of pre-1977 crackers and lit them (putting the label in my collection; I have a small firecracker label collection that's stored away somewhere; very cool and colorful artwork). Those crackers were L-O-U-D! By comparison, modern 50mg cracker are cr*p.
They have commercial fireworks demos as promos to show operators, demos of product for fireworks stand owners, and competition events for amateur firework makers. They put on a large convention opening show of professional display fireworks that is closed to the public and a larger convention closing show open to the public, but PGI members are in the best viewing location with the public farther away.
During the display events not open to the public you'll see amazing stuff you will never see most anywhere else in the US because the amateur made items are either too expensive to use commercially or are considered too unsafe for liability reasons for your normal general public audience. The only place I've ever seen girandolas launched was at these convention shows. At another, I saw aerial shells during the public event all of which had electronic fuses for timing accuracy so that bursts would be perfectly synced with music broadcast for the event over a local FM radio station.
The public event is opened by the ignition of a huge string of Chinese festival crackers. BTW, these aren't even the best strings I've seen:
The consumer fireworks sold in the circus tents are fired by the PGI member purchasers under strict PGI member volunteer supervision although from what I saw it wasn't that necessary as members didn't seem to be irresponsible idiots or allow their kids to act like idiots. Among things I've seen done there was members (including me) contributing a brick of 1 1/2" crackers to a GIANT public pile of them which was then lit. At one of the conventions we heard an ambulance (the PGI has its own beauty manned with paramedics and MDs who are PGI members) and everyone wondered if someone had been injured by consumer fireworks. NOPE, suspected heart attack.
Those experiences brought me to this idea: make ALL consumer fireworks legal in ALL states with this major, legislated caveat - all MUST be purchased and fired ON SITE and UNDER SUPERVISION. Entry and exit control just as with sporting events in stadiums would prevent fireworks leaving the site. Food concession stands and the circus tents of fireworks would be a safe distance from the firing area which would be, as it was in the case of a number of conventions I attended, a level DIRT field with a firing line marked along its length with a safe distance from the fireworks to be fired. If desired beyond a just a paper handout of rules and liability disclaimer given to the ADULTS entering the area alone or with children, a liability waiver document could be required to be signed. NO SMOKING in the sales tents, NO ALCOHOL, NO INEBRIATED INDIVIDUALS allowed on site. Violate a rule and you are escorted off-site by hired off-duty police and whatever fireworks you have left to shoot confiscated.
If this was done on a widespread basis or, better yet, on an EXCLUSIVE basis in a state, injuries and fires could be GREATLY reduced. Let people get their pyro fix safely on the weekend before the 4th and on the 4th.
Fireworks laws by state
https://www.americanpyro.com/state-law-directory
Graphic of same
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Consumer_fireworks_laws_in_the_USA_by_state.svg
--------
Chinese Consumer Fireworks
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/03/625405653/for-independence-day-fireworks-u-s-depends-on-china
Americans will spend more than $900 million this year on bottle rockets, Roman candles, and other fireworks. But those of us who want to celebrate Independence Day with a bang are almost totally dependent on China for supplies.
"Ninety-nine percent of the backyard consumer fireworks come directly from China," said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. "And about 70 percent of the professional display fireworks are manufactured in China."
It wasn't always this way. A lot of fireworks used to be made in the Midwest, by companies like American Fireworks. Vincenzo Sorgi started the Ohio-based business in 1902, after immigrating from Italy.
He "came through Ellis Island, which then they called the 'Fireworks Beltway,' " said Roberto Sorgi, his great-great-grandson. "Like a lot of the other families that came over, [he] brought a lot of the recipes that their families had used in Italy. So we had two or three generations [of fireworks makers] back in Italy as well."
For much of the last century, Italian transplants dominated the fireworks business, mostly producing pyrotechnics for their own shows.
"We manufactured pretty much everything from scratch," Roberto Sorgi said, "from the stars to putting the shell-casings together to the fuse itself and all the attachments in between."
Around the time of the American bicentennial in 1976, demand for fireworks began to outstrip the U.S. supply, so companies like Sorgi's began importing — from Italy, Mexico, and especially China. This is not a case of China stealing American know-how. The Chinese invented fireworks in the Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years ago.
"Manufacturing fireworks is very labor-intensive," Heckman added. "As the regulations got tighter and people really aren't interested in making things by hand, it made sense to rely more on China to handle that production."
Last year imports of fireworks dwarfed exports by a ratio of more than 40 to 1. But so far, that exploding trade deficit has not prompted the kind of protectionist crackdown that President Trump has directed at other industries.
"Thankfully, the fireworks industry has not been impacted by the tariffs," Heckman said. "We are watching it very, very closely."
Fireworks dealers warn adding a tariff to Chinese imports would turn their sparkling business into a dud. And make no mistake: the domestic business of selling and showcasing fireworks is booming. Sorgi's company has been adding workers year by year. Without the chore of having to hand-craft the rockets, they're able to stage hundreds more shows each year, and not just during this busy Fourth of July season.
"It's becoming a year-round thing where it used to be once or twice a year," Sorgi said. "So the industry as a whole has really just taken off to another level."
What's more, mass-produced Chinese fireworks are now safe enough to be sold legally in nearly every state, and consumer purchases have skyrocketed, from $284 million in 1998 to $885 million last year.
---------
From what I see here, I wonder how often these mom and pop places blow up:
What appears to be a much larger operation:
Last edited:
