JEDDAH, 4 July 2003 — The huge firework display on Jeddah’s Corniche nearly fizzled out last night, even before it started. The dank hand of bureaucracy delayed the entry into the Kingdom of the complex box of electronics that was to synchronize the display, and it got lost in a tangle of paperwork.
The specialized equipment arrived at King Abdul Aziz International Airport on Wednesday evening, and there it stayed. The magnitude of the event, the importance of the festival to Jeddah’s summer economy, and the possible disappointment of thousands of families who thronged the Corniche to see the display had no effect on the bureaucrats.
The festival organizers, after their best efforts, came up empty-handed.
Sensing the potential disappointment to the expected crowds, Angel Gonzales and his two senior technicians, Rodrigo and David, worked through the night, unloading tons of mortar tubes and rewiring the entire display so that it could be fired manually.
The electronically controlled firing mechanism ignites the fireworks in a pre-planned sequence, timing each to the millisecond. It allows tremendously complex firing sequences to be built and precise synchronization to music.
“It will still be pretty spectacular,” assured Angel, “but it’s not what we had planned.”
Early yesterday, after a swift breakfast, the team was out on the pier opposite the Westin Hotel, unloading the explosives and setting the charges for the mortars.
“We are using around 900 kg of fireworks for the display,” he said. “We managed to get the water-shells set up properly, so that at least that feature will be very special.” The shells fire from mortars laid at about 40 degrees and explode six times as they bounce out over the sea.
By 6 p.m., and after efforts had been made to extract the box of electronics from the airport warehouse, there was still no sign of it.
Resigned to manual operation, Angel completed the last of the wiring to the fire control board.
After the final checks on angles of fire, connections and pacing out the distance between the display and the safety barriers, Angel declared the display “safe to fire,” and the result lit up the city and sea for kilometers around.
