World-renowned for pyrotechnic artistry

AccuWeather

For six generations, the Grucci family has been the most popular name with fireworks. Phil Grucci, CEO of Fireworks By Grucci, talks about planning for this year's Fourth of July's pyrotechnics.

Transcript

00:00From early beginnings in Italy to now, six generations later, soon to be seventh, more

00:06on that in a second, the Grucci family is known as the first family of fireworks.

00:11Phil Grucci is CEO of Fireworks by Grucci.

00:13He joins us now to tell us about their planning for this week's pyrotechnics.

00:18But I understand that July 4th we could be talking about the seventh generation of the

00:23Grucci family, correct?

00:26That's right.

00:27The seventh generation, our first granddaughter, we're waiting eagerly.

00:31The car's packed, ready to go.

00:33So here we are.

00:34Well congratulations and our thoughts are with your family on that important day.

00:39All right, let's get back to fireworks.

00:41How many fireworks displays have you created for this July 4th holiday and how far and

00:47in how many states?

00:50We have 65 performances that'll go out between today, this evening, through because the Fourth

00:58of July Independence Day is on a Thursday this year.

01:00We go all the way through Sunday through the seventh.

01:04And we'll go as far as Hawaii, California, far down south as Orlando and SeaWorld and

01:10keep us game as far up north as Springfield, Massachusetts.

01:14What weather conditions are most difficult?

01:18What can your crews deal with and what would require you to wait?

01:22Rain, wind, thunderstorms, explain.

01:25Sure.

01:26From a safety perspective, it's wind and thunder, lightning storms.

01:31Rain we can, the fireworks are protected.

01:34It's more of an inconvenience to the audience.

01:36So it's really wind because what goes up, some of the debris, we have to keep it within

01:41a fallout area that's specified.

01:43So if the winds aloft are more than 20, 25 miles an hour in some locations, that becomes

01:48problematic for us.

01:50What goes into designing the perfect fireworks displays?

01:54What's the science and planning behind the colors, shapes, and timing?

01:58Sure.

01:59Well, it starts with the stage.

02:02What's the theater that we're performing in?

02:03This one being, as an example, I'm in Eisenhower Park.

02:07The setting where the audience is, is at an amphitheater with a pond, a little, a body

02:12of water.

02:13And we use that setting as our stage to perform from.

02:17Then we lay a soundtrack, naturally for Independence Day.

02:20It's very, very patriotic.

02:22A lot of stars and stripes, God bless America, a lot of red, white, and blue.

02:27It takes four days to install this program in and set it up for the, for a show that's

02:31only 20 minutes long.

02:33But boy, boy, is it worth it when you, when you push that button and that first shell

02:36goes off and the music happens and you turn around and look at that audience and that's,

02:41that's our reward to celebrate independence.

02:45President and CEO of Fireworks by Grucci, Phil Grucci, thanks for joining us here on

02:49AccuWeather Early and congratulations.

02:51I know you have a great granddaughter, Cunning.

02:54That's absolutely fantastic news.

02:55Enjoy.

02:56Yeah.

02:57Thank you very much for that.

02:58Appreciate it.

02:59Happy Independence Day.

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