Fireworks crew toils to make Las Vegas launch sizzle for New Year’s

By Chris Kudialis

Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Fireworks by Grucci pyrotechnician Henry Herman stood in an orange T-shirt with his hands folded on the roof of Treasure Island on Friday, admiring a masterpiece he and six colleagues spent the last week putting together in preparation for New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas.

“It’s always a ton of work and we’re always scrambling, but it always gets done on time,” Herman said of the setup process.

With 700 loaded mortar tubes, 55 shot boxes and dozens of other firework props placed around the edges of the rooftop, Treasure Island will serve as one of seven sites blasting over 150 fireworks per second for “America’s Party 2017” in Las Vegas, over a span of eight minutes and 11 seconds.

Herman said some workdays for the crew lasted up to 15 hours and included hauling hundreds of pounds of equipment up the casino’s staircases and wiring the fireworks to sync with a computer system used to detonate them.

Fireworks designated for the gran finale were covered in aluminum foil to avoid potential “premature detonation” by sparks from nearby fireworks set to fly earlier in the show, said Grucci representative Scott Cooper. Other shells were covered in plastic to protect them from a small chance of rain on Saturday night.

The fireworks are potent enough to blast through the foil and plastic coverings undeterred, Cooper said.

This year’s theme, “Vegas Rocks,” will honor famous Las Vegas Strip headliners as well as other celebrity musicians who passed away in 2016. The display will be timed to music, starting with the Salsoul Orchestra’s version of “Auld Lang Syne,” followed by Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long.” The show will continue with cuts from “Hoedown” by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind and Fire, “That’s My Kinda Night” by Luke Bryan and “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince.

Partygoers can also download the mobile Fireworks by Grucci app, which provides the synchronized soundtrack in real time.