Experienced pyrotechnician gives his view

The next Malta fireworks festival ought to be held during one evening and should last no longer than 45 minutes, Victor Caruana, honorary public relations officer of the 15th August fireworks factory of Mosta said yesterday.

The first such festival was organised by the Malta Tourism Authority last Friday and Saturday with Grand Harbour serving as a majestic backdrop.

The festival organisers, apart from their first ever such activity, managed another first: pooling the resources and considerable know-how of 12 fireworks factories from Malta and one from Gozo. The factories are members of the Malta pyrotechnics organisation, which has 37 factories registered with it.

Mr Caruana was speaking from experience: he has been producing fireworks for the past 18 years and has visited various festivals, including that in Monte Carlo, Nice, the US and Canada where, he said, none takes longer than 45 minutes.

"The festival should concentrate on the fireworks display.

"Without taking away from the merit of the singers and dancers at the show near the Fish Market, viewers should not have their attention distracted by another activity in a fireworks festival," he said.

Mr Caruana recently watched the festival in Vancouver, Canada in which pyrotechnicians from various countries took part. That show took no longer than 45 minutes.

"I don`t want to lessen the great effort made by the MTA or the fireworks factories - the 15th August fireworks factory was one of the participants at the festival - and I appreciate that this is the first time and there is room for improvement," Mr Caruana said.

In fact, he said, the second day of the festival was a great improvement on the first.

Built in 1983, the 15th August factory is considered one of the safest there is, Joe Chetcuti, administrative adviser to the society, said.

The factory at tat-Telleriet near Dwejra was built according to specifications followed in the US.

The factory is separated into various quarters where the mixing, the storage of raw materials, the covering and gluing of the fireworks and the storage of finished fireworks are completely cut off from one another.

The factory roofs are made of corrugated material to minimise the effect of a blast should an explosion take place.

Each set of rooms is set apart by a mound of soil and trees to lessen the effect of fire breaking out in other sections of the factory in the case of an accident. About 500 trees were planted for this purpose.

Fire extinguishers are prominent and the factory has a well that will come in handy in case of fire. The fireworks stores are enclosed by a wall that is reinforced by a thick layer of rubble topped by a cement coat to take the blast. As an added safety precaution, none of the iron doors faces another.

The foresight shown by the first members of the factory, who included Jimmy Camilleri and Emy Camilleri, who adopted internationally accepted norms in the building of the factory has been one of the best investments of the society, Mr Chetcuti said.

The factory has close connections with Robert Cardwell, a well-known American pyrotechnician who has visited the factory on a number of occasions.

Mr Cardwell publishes a pyrotechnics magazine called Pyrotechnics in New York and among his editorial team of seven pyrotechnicians is Emy Camilleri who is the licensee of the 15th August fireworks factory.

While writing this article I had a look at Cardwell`s website. This is, believe it or not, among what I found.

"I have published a journal on pyrotechnics for 18 years and of course have many subscribers in Malta because there are per capita, probably more fireworks and fireworkers there than anywhere else in the world - to my mind, that`s great.

"I had the great fortune also to travel to Malta and got to spend the first two weeks of August doing nothing but travel from village to village, visiting pyrotechnists, watching fireworks shows.

"There was nothing like being on a hill west of Mosta and seeing displays going off everywhere. Maybe I`m the first one in the guest book that travelled to Malta just for fireworks originally, but then found so many warm friends and other discoveries.

"There were lots of Brits there but I seemed to be the only American in the village where we stayed - we were welcomed into a home and there was such hospitality I am embarrassed to say that we should have been able to pay our hosts for something, but they would not let us."

Apart from moving away from the traditional way fireworks factories were built, the 15th August fireworks factory broke tradition on another front - other factories are linked directly with a band club but the 15th August factory is not.

It has its own social club in Mosta, has about 300 members and prides itself for having been promoting cultural activities for the past four years.

Loreto Dalli, who is involved in the society`s cultural activities, said that firework enthusiasts are often looked down upon by other members of the public. The society promotes literary and musical evenings and raises funds towards deserving causes in Mosta.

Mr Dalli said: "These men give most of their free time during the year to the preparation of fireworks instead of spending it with their families.

"They are volunteers and even during the village festa they spend their time keeping their wits about them as they set the fireworks off.

"On the morrow of the festa they comb the surrounding area from where the fireworks were fired to clear it of any material that failed to explode".