Pyrotechnic crews finish up preparations for Lake Tahoe fireworks show

Tens of thousands of people will be enjoying the Lights on the Lake fireworks show over Lake Tahoe Monday, most of them unaware of the hundreds of hours of work put into their enjoyment.

"We love out job," said Zambelli Fireworks Western Region Project Manager John Hagan. "We can use explosives to make people happy."

Zambelli is the company hired to produce the 25 minute pyrotechnic show over Lake Tahoe on July 4, starting at 9:45 p.m.

Even before coming the Lake Tahoe, thousands of hours is spent in preparation. There is the music selection, then a choreographer takes the music and times it to the setting off of the fireworks, much like a dance through the sky. The shells are manufactured, sometimes in China, sometimes at Zambelli Fireworks locations in the Unites States. The thousands of shells are then transported to Tahoe. In the meantime, the computer programmer gets to work. Its about six to eight hours of programming per one minute of firework show. For a 25-minute show, that's about 200 hours of programming.

Three barges (one of them the old MS Dixie) are currently off shore at the north end of Edgewood Tahoe, and on Monday they'll be towed south towards the clubhouse, their final resting spot before the big show. They wouldn't normally have to prepare the barges in one place, then move to another, but the wedding groups at Edgewood Tahoe asked for the move so the big equipment isn't in the background of their wedding photos.

On the barges this week is a crew of six, including John Hagan. The Tahoe show is just one of 60 he is responsible for in the state of California alone. Since the company is international, there are hundreds of other fireworks shows Zambelli has created for the holiday. Called the "First Family of Fireworks," Zambelli has created shows over the last 100 years in Washington, DC, Las Vegas, Dubai, Paris and other major locations.

Each barge is covered in sand, with sturdy wooden crates on top with the black, plastic tubes secured inside. The crew covers up everything in heavy plastic if there is threat of rain, as there was on Friday. Rain could cause misfiring of the powder, and lead to a accident.

Joining John on the barge as she always does is daughter Elizabeth, 22, who is wrapping up nursing school in Chicago. She's been helping dad with pyrotechnics since she was a little girl, so its second nature to her. Now that she's starting to job hunt, Elizabeth says employees are finding it quite different to have a job candidate who is a surgical nurse and pyrotechnic specialist. Dad John has been in the fireworks business her whole life.

The shells are numbered when they're produced, then when in Lake Tahoe they are packed into tubes, and wired into the eight wireless computers on the barges.

A shell comes in varying sizes, depending on the height they'll go on July 4. Inside the shell is a bag of black powder that will be lit, then propelled out of the tubes on the barges. It travels at 60 miles per second. There is a secondary explosion that breaks apart what looks like little marbles in the shell, and that gives the show what everyone comes out to watch. The way the marbles are packed is what creates distinct patterns such as the popular smiley face firework.

The blast sends up the shells hundreds of feet into the air, in fact, for every inch in size, the shell travels 100 feet up. For example, a six inch shell goes up 600 feet before exploding, a three inch shell just 300 feet.

There is something special planned this year, but Hagen wouldn't reveal the secret.

Working closely with Hagan and his crew are the Tahoe Douglas Fire Department Fire Marshal Eric Guevin and Fire Inspector Todd Stroup. They were out on the barges again Friday to make sure Zambelli employees are taking the appropriate safety measures.

"We're here to keep things safe," said Guevin. Besides all the day to day safety checks done during the week of work on the barges, Guevin will have a spot to watch the show from Edgewood. As soon as its over, he'll head to the water to keep the perimeter clear around the barges until the clean up efforts are done, and to ensure no explosives are left behind. He'll head home at about 2:00 a.m. on July 5, then return at daybreak to make sure they didn't miss anything.

"A lot of agencies don't understand the firework show like Tahoe Douglas Fire Department does," Hagen said.

Every shell is accounted for from shipment, to delivery, to setting off on July 4. And not just before the show, but afterwards as well.

Clean up is part of the business as well. The Zambelli crew will be on boats during and the show with new, high end nets that will pick up debris from the lake. This process has become fine tuned since 2014 when the annual show was almost canceled due to a lawsuit was brought about because of the firework trash left behind in the lake and on the beach.

Zambelli has created a system of launching the shells that creates less debris, with reusable plastic pipes that the shells are loaded into, smarter packing procedures and the post-show clean up. Hagan said they now use larger materials to decrease the chance unwanted things get into the lake.

"Nothing is left on the lake," said Hagan. The company conducts research on wildlife before and after the fireworks shows they put on over Monterey Bay, a very sensitive environmental area. One thing the company has done for environmental purposes is to reduce the Perchlorate used in the shells. "It costs more, but its worth it," said Hagan.

Guevin said security measures are tight for the barges. "There are multiple agencies and private personnel as well as eyes from the air, land and sea."

He did ask that all boaters respect the safe involved with the barges, and if they need to pass, do so on the lake side of them, not on the beach side. During the show, law enforcement will be keeping the boaters in safe zones, and away from the barges.

The show is synchronized to KRLT 93.9 FM, so viewers can watch and listen at the same time. Hagan says they have the music timed to within 1/100th of a second.

Even though Zambelli crew will be getting most debris out of the lake, the beaches will be full of volunteers cleaning up after the fireworks on July 5. Interested volunteers can show up at this list of beaches: http://ltva.org/fireworks/