For pyrotechnicians, the sky is their canvas and their medium is fire
COUNTDOWNS to major milestones and celebrations in the country are usually marked with spectacular fireworks displays.
Typically lasting 15 to 25 minutes, these pyrotechnic showcases actually take weeks or even months of planning and tireless work to pull off, all while ensuring public safety.
The art of pyrotechnics is not only specialised. It requires teamwork as well as expertise.
Group effort
The spectacular fireworks display that lit the sky at the New Year’s Eve countdown in Dataran Putrajaya, for example, required a crew of eight to pull off.
Heading this team was Krishna Moorthy, 46, a pyrotechnician at a company hired by Putrajaya Corporation to welcome 2025 with 30,000 people.
“Igniting the fuse is the easiest part of a fireworks show. The preparation required before, not so,” said the father-of-two who has 26 years of experience in this industry.
The job of pulling off fireworks displays, which require the presence of a police officer from the armaments unit at set-up and during show time, cannot be done by just any event company.
The 36-year-old company Krishna works for has its core business in quarry blasting, where specialisation is required in the field of explosives, ordnance disposal and detection.
They also supply and execute theatrical pyrotechnics for stage and filming projects.
Safety and selfies
One of the important requirements for companies in this field is a magazine to hold the explosives and pyrotechnics.
“The location, which is known only to the authorities and kept secret from outsiders, must not be near anywhere there is population such as shophouses and residential areas.
“The licence is renewed yearly.
“If there are upcoming developments nearby, the magazine will have to be moved.
“As part of the company’s future planning, we will always refer to local draft plans which will outline upcoming developments for the next 30 years,” said Krishna.
It is mostly a male-dominated field as the heavy equipment and shells have to be hand-carried to minimise static electricity, which may accidentally trigger ignition.
Pyrotechnicians also do not have the luxury of taking selfies of themselves at work.
This is because mobile phones can also accidentally trigger the relay that is connected to the e-match – the wire fuses around a firework – causing premature ignition.
There is also an extensive list of requirements for a public fireworks display.
“As fireworks are explosives, permits must be obtained from the Home Ministry (KDN), police, Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and local councils.
“The application process is a tedious one,” Krishna said.
“Approvals are needed from the police’s licensing department, their armament and explosive unit, and from the police chief of the state where the show is taking place, among others.
“We also have to get permits from the relevant local council.
“All these can take up to a month.
“Approval must be obtained from CAAM too. And for obvious safety reasons, fireworks displays are not allowed near airports and flight zones,” he added.
Fireworks companies are also required to have public liability insurance coverage.
Krishna said this was why during the application process, the details of the main organiser were required, not the event manager, because the former was the one who has this liability insurance.
“Crew-wise, we are not allowed to employ foreigners. Before every show, the names of all the employees and their identity card numbers must be submitted to the police.
“Members of the crew must also be of sound mind,” he stressed. In terms of competency, Krishna said those in this industry must either get their certification from manufacturers who would train buyers on how to handle and use their products or from the pyrotechnic companies they work for.
For his training, Krishna has been to China, Italy and Spain.
“These countries have the most manufacturers as the raw materials needed to make fireworks, such as charcoal, potassium nitrate, and sulphur, are easily available,” he said, adding that manufacturing of fireworks is not allowed in Malaysia.
Art in the sky
According to freelance fireworks display designer Jeffry Bahary, 43, there are two types of shows.
“One is just shooting colours into the sky.
“The other requires the bursts to synchronise with music, similar to a musical fountain.
“My strength is in the second category,” said Jeffry.
The latter, he said, was really a test of a designer’s technical knowledge.
“To pair a fireworks show to the beat of a chosen musical score, a fireworks designer must know the duration of its burst, how long it can fire and how long the effect will remain in the sky.”
As the sky is his canvas, Jeffry has to decide on the levels he will have to fill.
“There are three levels.
“Anything below 50m high will be the lower levels, while 100m to 120m are considered mid-level. The highest would be between 150m and 200m.
“We must also know how to set the explosive charges in the mortars so that they can propel the starshells to the height we desire.
“Within the starshells, the designer must also know what the chemical make-up of its pellets are like, in order to achieve the colours and effects to suit the music.”
To achieve his effects, Jeffry has learnt how to code so that he can programme software to trigger the switches that will detonate specific batches of pyrotechnics in time to music.
Recalling how he found his footing in the field, he went to work with a concert crew after leaving secondary school.
That was when a friend asked if he was interested to take on some part-time work with a fireworks company handling the 2003 National Day celebrations at Sepang International Circuit, Selangor.
He was in the industry for 16 years before venturing out on his own as a freelancer in 2019.
‘Bollywood’ weddings
Jeffry, a father of three, has since undertaken projects in India, Bangladesh and Thailand.
“In India, my services are often sought for weddings, as they are held on a big scale.
“They are exactly like in Bollywood movies where everybody is dressed up and there is lots of dancing.
“Fireworks displays are popular at such functions,” said Jeffry.
His most memorable show was in Vancouver, Canada, last year for an offshore fireworks competition.
“Four of us went to represent Malaysia.
“The other teams were from Portugal and the United Kingdom.
“We fired from two sand barges that had been tied together.
“We used up to 800 starshells for the finale alone, which was in the last 15 seconds of our 27-minute show,” said Jeffry.
Though the set-up was taken care of by the organiser, he said there was still the challenge of getting in touch with the factory to find out the specifications of the fireworks.
Historic event
Another unforgettable event for Jeffry was the grand celebration at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium when Johor football team won the Malaysia Super League title for the ninth time in 2022.
This was just after the lifting of the movement control order and he remembers being subject to Covid-19 testing for each day spent at the stadium to prepare for the show.
“The client was very specific about the colours in the fireworks display – red and blue.
“But to give the display added sparkle, I added some gold and silver,” he said.
In his career, the most expensive show Jeffry has ever worked on cost a corporate company RM2mil on the occasion of its anniversary.
The show that touched him the most, meanwhile, was for a mother’s birthday celebration.
The client had arranged to launch the fireworks display from the port so that their mother, who was sailing out of Penang, would have a grand send-off for her holiday.
It is such moments that make pyrotechnicians feel their efforts have been worth it.
No matter the hours they have to spend under the sun with no shade during setup or the red tape they have to go through, it’s the end result that makes it worth the while.
“When people go ‘wow’ and you see the beautiful effects in the sky, it is a deeply satisfying feeling,” said Krishna.
