Colorful fireworks display to erupt over Strip at 2003 debut

Dan Kulin

Monday, Dec. 30, 2002 | 10:30 a.m.

Six months of planning, designing and creating will go up in a blaze of silver, gold, green -- and red, white and blue -- over the Strip in the first eight minutes of 2003.

Testing the fireworks for the Strip's New Year's Eve celebration began in July, said Jim Souza, president of Pyro Spectaculars by Souza.

At the same time, crews from the company, based in Rialto, Calif., descended upon the Strip's hotels to survey and photograph the rooftops from which more than 50,000 fireworks will be launched.

From a control base on the roof of The Rio, Souza will oversee what he described as "10 separate shows all synchronized as one."

The fireworks will take off from 10 sites: The Venetian, Stratosphere, Monte Carlo, Excalibur, Bally's, MGM Grand, Flamingo, Circus Circus, Riviera and Treasure Island.

Starting 30 seconds before 2003 begins, strobe lights will flash on the 10 hotels serving as launch sites. Then for the 10-second countdown to midnight, one comet-like firework will rise each second in front of each of the hotels, ultimately covering the hotels in a curtain of silver light.

"Then it rips," Souza said.

The Strip skyline will be bathed in streams of burning light, all set to music, including an Elvis tune and patriotic music. It will all be under the control of Souza and his crew at the Rio sending digital signals to computers on the other rooftops "telling them where and when to fire," he said.

"The challenge is to make it entertaining and creative," Souza said.

At times, fireworks will appear to chase each other across the roofs, streams of fire will shoot out in giant fan shapes and giant circles of color will fill the sky, Souza said.

"The last 30 seconds will be a titanium blast," he said, adding that titanium makes for a silver-colored firework.

"A salute to the Silver State," Souza said.

The hardware -- launch tubes, computer systems and other non-fireworks equipment -- began arriving on the hotel roofs on Dec. 20.

Three tractor-trailers were to bring the fireworks to Las Vegas on Sunday, he said. Some of the fireworks have traveled halfway around the world to get here. Some were made in China, some in Spain, and about half were made at the company's California factory, Souza said.

Like all fireworks, they include basic black gunpowder, but besides that the recipes for the various fireworks are a company secret, Souza said.

Safety has also been a concern for Souza and local officials.

Security on the rooftops is tight for the event, and all of Souza's 50 employees who will oversee the fireworks have gone through police background checks, he said.

The Clark County Fire Department will have two fire engines stationed just off the Strip and 22 teams of emergency personnel circulating in the crowd, department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

The fireworks display could be disrupted by heavy winds, Leinbach and Souza said. Souza said the wind would have to be at least 20 mph to prompt them to postpone any part of the show.

The weather forecast for New Year's Eve calls for the temperature to dip into the high 30s with winds 10 to 15 mph, National Weather Service spokesman Brian Fuis said.

Souza's family has been in the fireworks business for about 100 years, and the family company has put on the fireworks shows for many high-profile events over the years, including the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Souza also did the fireworks for the grand opening of Paris Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas show isn't the biggest ever for the company, "but it's up there in the top 10 we've done over the world," he said.

New Year's Eve will be a busy night for the company, he said. Pyro Spectaculars is also putting on shows in Seattle, Philadelphia, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hawaii.

Between 270,000 and 290,000 people are expected on the Strip to watch the fireworks, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spokesman Rob Powers said. Hotel tax money is paying the $500,000 fee the company is charging, he said.

This will be the third New Year's fireworks show on the Strip. Powers said he had no data to show whether the fireworks bring more people to the city.

"But having one of the biggest fireworks shows in the world on New Year's Eve must be a draw," he said.