'A lot of action and lots of noise': a look at how the Freedom 4th fireworks display was made

As the relentless summer sun beat down on Thursday ahead of the Freedom Fourth celebration at Balloon Fiesta Park, on a hill to the north of launch fields, a crew of six people work diligently.

Under a canopy, Fireworks By Western Rocky Mountain Regional Manager Ron Burnette relays numbers to several of his crew members nearby, next to dozens, upon dozens of fireworks.

Some $80,000 worth of fireworks, according to the City of Albuquerque. Each one was being primed to launch into the upcoming night sky, marking the conclusion of the 2024 Independence Day celebration.

With the reading of each number, crew members walked over to a black box, called a module, on the ground and made sure it is sending a signal back to the main control board, next to Burnette.

Each module has dozens of blue wires spilling out of them, each one is connected to one of the fireworks. These modules are assigned a number, that corresponds to a bundle of fireworks. That number determines when that section of fireworks is launched during the display. “This show is programmed, and I have it all right here in this controller,” Burnette said. “All I gotta do is press play, and it goes.”

A simple operation from the sounds of it, but the set up to get Burnette and his crew to this place was anything but. Burnette and five of his crew arrived in Albuquerque on Tuesday with two full-sized trailers full of fireworks and immediately began work.

“We bundle all of our (mortar) racks together according to size and secure them and from there we drop our (firework) shells into the appropriate mortar and wire them to the appropriate module,” Burnette said.

It took his crew roughly three full days to get everything bundled, secured and properly wired. Hindered slightly by the rain, the crew was able to set everything up in time and on Thursday, hours ahead of the show, all that was left was final checks to make sure every module was properly responding. With everything in working order, Burnette and his crew could safely retreat to the cool embrace of the shade.

This year’s fireworks display is set to last roughly 19 minutes, according to Burnette. When asked what the public could expect from this year’s show, a small smile began to creep onto his face. “It’s going to be a lot of action and lots of noise and full of red, white and blue,” he said.

When asked what he was mostly looking forward to, Burnette didn’t hesitate: “The grand finale.”

Gino Gutierrez is the good news reporter at the Albuquerque Journal. If you have an idea for a good news story, you can contact him at goodnews@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3940.