Equipment listed is suggestions on what to find & take, Not a magic
list of GEA stuff someone else will have bought for GEA & magically
deliver to the field ;-) (** = GEA Property, but of course some will
have been lost (as usual with GEA property that moves between people)
Fireworks Equipment To Take

Wooden Launching Platforms To Take

Announcement:

First Aid:

perhaps ? (will hurt more though, perhaps better
than nothing ? Ask someone who knows, not me !)
Launch Clothing:
Jacket that’s Not plastic but cloth
(if it catches fire plastic merges into skin & is
much worse than cloth for hospital to deal with.
Goggles
Leather not plastic gloves (people don’t use gloves
in practice anyway, as it causes fumbling).
Hats hard shell, eg builders, Old Clothing that can take a burn,
Tools:
Hammer 2lb (for Catherine wheels etc)
Hammer sledge (for Catherine wheel stand, rocket sticks, tables)
Scraper (for cleaning launching boards after)
Screwdrivers etc for Catherine wheeel frame.
Saw (speculative)
Drill (speculative)
Torches (several) Head mounted are useful.
(Fluorescent Lamp + extension cable - Optional, useful for set up.)
Warning Signs in plastic sleeves. to put on boundary sticks.
Boundary Posts (Green plastic coated steel garden sticks
Boundary Tape Red/White (suppliers: Praktika, obi bau-Wa
Spare Nails
Spare Screws
Spare O ring screws for launch sticks.
Obsolete (currently, but maybe another year):
Step Ladder (for hammering on tall posts)
- Poles now shorter so not needed.
Spirit Level (for flat tables)
Socket Set Driver - not needed as we now do simpler ground
laid plank as platform. (don’t need the
height of a raised platform as audience
look over & down gentle slope on to launch area.
Spanners for bolts for legs.
Bonfire:
Diesel Fire starter, Axes, Bow Saw, string to tie apex of frame
THe bonfire is run by Roger. Help both ways can occur.
Next Day:
Wheelbarrow & spade (can borrow these from gaststatte)

3 launchers, + one to de cap rockets & be on standby, +
chief to hand out rockets, or just to stand back, not being
too busy, to orchestrate the show (which takes about 30 mins,
if 250 Euro fire works are bought (discounted to ~200 Euro
for bulk purchase)
New inexperienced launch personnel need to be fully briefed,
easiest would be to send them these notes a week before.
Buy fireworks days before.
You’ll presumably start with about 10 combi family packs,
& some bigger individual things.
Empty & sort all the family packs by type
(it takes too long in the cold or damp of the field.)
Do not buy short wide things that look more like dangerous
mortars, that rely on level ground we don’t have on a plank,
& could be too dangerous.
Inspect fireworks days before,
Some rockets are always sub standard. Reject (or
glue & allow time & warm air days before, for glue
to set, so not on Saturday field) eg any rockets
not held firmly to stick. Check the sticks are
straigtht. Check the sticks dont have splinters
that will stop their smooth acceleration & trajectory.
Reject (ie do not use for public display) rockets
with thin spindly sticks that are perhaps good
enough for bottle mounted in earth at Xmas, but are
NOt stable enough for a public display. Reject
rockets with bent sticks. Reject rockets that
aren’t aligned with sticks & will whiz left or
right. Particularly reject rockets that will fly
back into crowd. How to tell ? Well the launch
stick arent vertical, but tilted so rocket body
hangs on the downhill side of the stick. If the
rocket tip is pointing more vertical than the stick,
it’s likely to circle backward into crowd I guess.
Simple check: hold rocket at top of stick near fuse,
if the tip points upward a bit, it’s likely trouble.
Reject rockets with insufficient glue, (some only
have their guidance stick stuck to the rocket by
the paper label !). Reject rockets with weak knots in the stick.
Reject fiddly things, eg "NICO
Feuerwerk" packs of 50 "Knallteufel" / "Tickknaller"
tiny bangers, useless, as need decent light. Treat
rockets gently after inspection, so they don’t get
broken. We usually use 3 or 6 launching sticks, but wrapping
rockets in groups of 3 with rubber bands is not a good move:
too slow to take off,
too high a chance of breakage in a rush,
a pain if you want to change the combination
(eg we often either 3 of the same, or the edges the same & one in the middle different), + a chance of splinters.
Also not useful if you wrap in 3’s in newspaper,
as we cant see what’s left, to balance remaining display between big high rockets, low short rockets, & ground based fireworks.
So just sort rockets by type, & put back in the transparent
plastic family combi packs they came in.)

Firing at 20 degrees from vertical, offset from crowd is insufficient, place crowd
at top of field, launch site at bottom of field near lake, &
slant rocket stick so they will drop in lake or field beyond.
Ensure metal loops on launch sticks are smooth on inside (not rusty).
Ensure launch sticks have an assortment of metal loop
displacements, for different size rocket sticks, so that
each rocket type can rise well within 2 rings, giving it
guidance, before it’s down to one ring, & could start veering
off course.
Identify where any medicaly trained people will be standing
in the audience,
before not after they are needed.
Tell Gluehwein Tent people + Bonfire
what medical equipment
we have. Ask what they have.
INSTRUCT LAUNCHERS HOURS BEFORE ON EQUIPMENT IN DAYLIGHT
(& Repeat a subset of briefing 5 mins before Launch):
It’s not a chaotic democracy in the dark, but a synchronised
operation, with just one boss, to calmly & quietly co-ordinate.
Get them to practice handling fireworks
& installing Roman candles & rockets in the launch
frames with eyes closed (then it’ll be easier with
eyes open + torches after dark. (Tell them eg Roman
Candle slipped out of too shallow hole, & pointed
at crowd in 1992)
Restrict your alcohol consumption ’till after firework display finished.
Bring your car fire extinguisher.
Fire Extinguisher, Buckets of Sand (better than water because I have
tried chucking a full bucket of water over a firework, & it makes
no difference, just keeps burning).
Tell them what first aid kit we have.
When doing nothing, Return to me, & wait by me, so I can talk to you,
not shout at you (audience don’t benefit from shouting).
Carry gas torches flame pointing backward, to avoid blow outs,
be very careful of flame, keep away from firework box & people.
Be disciplined, don’t just run back & immediately harass me for more
fire works,
Work in rota, try to synchronise things, launch rockets simultaneously.
When given 3 fireworks for the tables, if one is different from the
other 2, place it on the middle table

friction nail, rather than outer circumference of firework
(or badly moulded plastic) braking
by rubbing on wood.
Check your nails the day before: under the head should not
have bits that will rub on plastic & stop the turning.
The aim is to have all Catherine wheels nailed to wood
pieces with large holes on other end, The wood pieces are
then hung loose on nails projecting from front of tall frame.
15 MINS BEFORE LAUNCH
Uncap Rockets
Remove sellotape from fuses
Keep as many fireworks under cover in aluminium box as possible
Have the rockets in box point away from crowd, not toward, in case
a spark or burning fragment hits the box.
Set aside a bunch of stuff for finale.
Bonfire:
Tell Roger, 2/3 minutes before end of display, to start fire.
GRAND FINALE :
Pre-Announce that this last (mega cluster) of fireworks,
is the end of the display.
AFTER DISPLAY ENDS:
Announce End
Keep people especially kids away from launch area (there’s
always some un ignited fireworks)
Remove barrier
starting at bonfire end, pull out poles, walking
along line & bundling up tape, letting people
migrate to bonfire area. (Do not remove whole
barrier at once, or audience migrate down the
field. Use just 1 person to roll back the line,
(not a bunch of launch personnel doing it in
parallel)
Do not put remaining dead fireworks on fire till end of evening,
when everyone has left, as supposedly dead ones aren’t always dead,
& have been known to explode !,

Ground Plan