Pyrotecnico CEO Stephen Vitale Talks National Mall Fireworks Show

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

**David Gura** (0:07)
All right, one of the other things happening today, massive fireworks, as one would expect on 4th of July. Business is booming for Pyrotecnico. That's the company that's producing the fireworks show, hopefully weather standing on the National Mall in Washington tonight. It will set, if everything goes as planned, a world record with 860,000 fireworks. About 10 times as many as are traditionally used in the Macy's Show here in New York.

**Christina Ruffini** (0:33)
Joining us now, we have, sorry, I should say, John Adams predicted independent celebrations would go. Quote, he said, I am apt to believe that it will be, by succeeding generations, is the great anniversary festival. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, games, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.
Stephen Vitale is the CEO of Pyrotecnico. He joins us now from DC, ahead of the big show. Stephen, great to have you with us. Christina, just a moment ago, outlining the numbers here, which are staggering, but put that into some context for us. When you have that many fireworks, that many pyrotechnics, what is it going to look like? How is that going to play out here this evening?

**David Gura** (1:12)
At some point, don't you reach sky saturation with the number of fireworks going up?

**Stephen Vitale** (1:17)
Well, happy Fourth of July, and thank you for having me. I mean, it's going to be, you know, Washington, DC is going to be full of fireworks. It's going to be fireworks in the stereo. You know, we're shooting from 10 locations. You know, the centerpiece will be on the National Mall. We have a massive show at West Potomac Park. And then we have eight barges that will stretch over a mile long on the Potomac River.
So it's going to be, you know, record breaking and, you know, the best and finest fireworks display that America has yet to see.

**David Gura** (1:51)
Alright, your great-grandfather started his own Pyrotecnico company in Italy in 1889, then came over to the US with the company in 1922 Talk to us about how the family business and the fireworks business has evolved in that time.

**Stephen Vitale** (2:05)
Yeah, well, you know, we're a fifth generation company. And, you know, we were incredibly proud to help America celebrate its independence. I mean, you know, technology has changed. You know, all of our shows are computer choreographed and fired electronically with computers. You know, the design element, the colors and the effects that we shoot now are far beyond, I think, what great-grandpa Constantino would have ever believed.

**Christina Ruffini** (2:38)
Christina, just a moment ago, mentioning the weather. No storms forecast in Washington tonight, but I gather that when you're shooting off fireworks like this, humidity is an issue, in part because smoke can linger in the air as a result of that. Walk us through, if you would, sort of, how you account for that and the degree to which that is going to be a factor that weighs on tonight's event, if at all.

**Stephen Vitale** (2:58)
Well, I think, you know, one important component is that we stretched the display out to 40 minutes. You know, typical fireworks display that you would see on the 4th of July would be 18 to 20 So with the volume of fireworks, we wanted to make sure that we allowed for, you know, smoke to clear and we're hoping and praying for a little bit of wind and, you know, the humidity to cool down at 1030 when we shoot the display.

**David Gura** (3:30)
Why is the display so late this year? Does that make it, are you hoping the weather cools down or is that just how the timing worked out? It's usually right at sunset in DC. It's much later this year.

**Stephen Vitale** (3:40)
Yeah, that's how Freedom 250 planned it. And we're up for it. I think they want it to be one of the last displays in the country so the entire country can get to witness and watch it.

**David Gura** (3:54)
The grand finale, if you will.

**Christina Ruffini** (3:56)
There you go.
Stephen, I went to the Pyrotecnico website, saw a lot of your past shows, which are, they've all been quite memorable and quite huge in their own way. I also noticed there's a drone component to the website as well. We were talking during the break just about the degree to which drones might be taking over from fireworks. Do you see that happening? Is there a preference for drones now? Is there going to be a world in which we kind of move away from traditional Pyrotechnics, traditional fireworks into drones completely?