Logistics and Scale of the Celebration

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detroit . The president has both an ability and a willingness to use the power of his office to think outside the box. Nobody makes a better deal than President Trump. We're going to do better and better and better. Nobody can believe what they're watching. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the forty seventh president, with a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR . I'm Steve Enskippe. The Trump administration is promising a spectacle this july fourth, a giant fireworks display in Washington to celebrate America's two hundred fiftieth birthday, and Percy Bill Chapel reports. From the start, the White House wanted this july fourth fireworks show to set a new Guinness World Record, and Pyrotechnico, the company putting on the show, plans to do that. But the company CEO Stephen Weitau says there's another goal. Our main focus is to make this the most memorable fireworks display that this generation will have ever seen. To do that, it'll fire off around eight hundred fifty one thousand fireworks. So how does that stack up against what's usually the biggest July fourth show in the U. S. Here's a hint, it's in New York. Macy's has traditionally been what I call the Grand addy of them all. Julie Heckman is the executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, an industry trade group. That show traditionally has between sixty and eighty five thousand aerial shells and effects . So DC is looking at ten times that quantity in setting this world record. The National Mall Show usually starts around nine PM and lasts less than twenty minutes . But organizers say this year's show will start around ten thirty and will be more than twice as long at forty minutes. That's shorter than the current world record fireworks show. A mega church in the Philippines took more than an hour to blast off nearly eight hundred eleven thousand fireworks when it set that record ten years ago. For this year's show in DC, the launch sites are more spread out than in the past, from the National Mall and a nearby park to eight barges floating in the pot omac River. As Vitau says, It's gonna be fireworks and stereo. Audiences will see lots of red, white, and blue using fireworks sourced from around the world. They'll hear patriotic songs and pop music, the scale is massive, but the show's largest fireworks shells will be ten inches just like last year. That's restricted by safety codes. There is a code that they have to follow, and it's the National Fire Protection Association Code for Public Display . Basically, a shell can travel one hundred feet in the air for every inch of its size. So a tenant shell you need a thousand foot setback and barrier, but will this year's show be louder? Because of the volume, it'll certainly pack a larger punch. And that's the idea to edge a new memory into the national consciousness. Here's Julie Heckman. And I think that's what they want the company and the president as well , who's putting on, you know, the grandest, biggest show ever , really wants to take away that this is the best show you've ever seen. Vital says dozens of workers will orchestrate bursts of color, movement, and sound in the show. That all matters because why people love fireworks so much is it really touches all of our senses. If all goes well, people will be talking about this show for fifty years until the next big anniversary. Bill Chapel, NPR News . And before we go, a plug for the best way to hear Trump's terms and all of NPR's political coverage, the NPR app. Check out other shows in the podcast tab or try out the NPR podcast mix, a collection of shows and stories curated by NPR editors . And make sure to follow your favorite shows so you are always caught up on the latest episodes. I'm Scott Detro , thanks for listening to Trump's Terms from NPR.