Wow. Seriously guys, this is making my head hurt. You don't know enough to even have this discussion, but are making some wild claims.
With that said, I will continue to try and explain things and answer questions. At the same time, you really do need to take 10 steps back and understand about how the fireworks function prior to making claims on how to improve them. As San Tai said, there is NO
safety violation or practice that would have prevented this.
1) The technical part of the press
release doesn't make sense to those who know the firing
system they were using. That's just not how it works. Files aren't merged together and the software didn't screw it up. The firing
system manufacturer said he didn't even understand what they were actually saying. They edited their own file on site and didn't look at it before loading into the panel. No backup file like this would have messed it up, either. The error really was as simple and dumb as it gets. Think of a sound guy playing the wrong
mp3 for a big event. All he had to do was listen to it before playing. Should the government require that all sound people now double check before hitting "
play"? I realize it's not a good analogy, but work with me here...
2) Fuses. Have you ever bought a string of firecrackers? There is one ignition and then a
fuse runs along the middle. Each firecracker individually has a
fuse that touches the main run. Thus, you light the string and can't stop it until it burns out. The finale shells in a show are often stringed together (called finale chains). The end of the chain is lit by an
electric match (ematch or igniter), and the entire chain goes. Sometimes these have delay fuses to maximize the time of the chain and might last up to 10 seconds or so.
They also had what are called "cakes." These are like the preloaded boxes you could buy at a fireworks stand. Once again, you light the
fuse and it shoots a sequence of tubes internally. Once started, you cannot stop it. These typically last 5 to 30 seconds, but I've seen them last for up to 60 seconds. As San Tai said, a
fuse can be as long as you want it to be...
Since I don't know about the use of timed chains with delay fuses or standard quickmatch chains, how long of a sequence is standard for a single firing sequence? What I am trying to understand is with this accident which took over
30 seconds to fire all of the fireworks and all the sequences were triggered to start at once, how long of a chain can be set for a single trigger? How do these sequences get their commands in a
system like this? Does it
send one command to a single electronic match which in turn triggers additional matches (or equivalent) or are they set up like an
effect sequence where you have a start command for the
effect, but then there are individual steps in that
effect which are individual commands?
You're overthinking it. Read above on chains. One end is lit, and the the fireworks go. Although this doesn't sound safe because you don't have control, it's been this way forever. It's just how fireworks are made. Don't tell us that it needs to change because it won't. That would be like the government outlawing
par cans. They're THAT common.
I disagree that they only needed to have the last paragraph in their explanation of how events occurred. I think that it was very upstanding of them to disclose everything that they did. I don't think that we can come to begin to understand everything that goes in to putting on a show like this. By only putting in "it was human error" is like saying that everything that occurred last summer in Indiana was that there was a wind storm. We belittle ourselves to say that we can boil down a situation to something so simplistic and thus perpetuate to the public that what we do is simple as well. Sure, it was an avoidable error. I believe that this company will probably help set the standard to make sure that this error is not repeated, especially on this caliber.
I was agreeing with everything until the last sentence. It's like you guys want there to be more to the story than there is. Again, they made a very simple (and dumb) mistake. I was sure it wouldn't have been this simple, but I was wrong.
Point is, there isn't going to be some new "standard" or ensuring this won't ever happen again. People will always accidentally push a wrong
button or make a dumb mistake.
actually, a standard of checking your control program (which in this case fired both the backup and the main file) would be needing to be in place. they checked the main file, and they checked the backup, but failed to check their launch program. it can, so when you tell us no it can't. I claim bull honky.
As for
safety measures, the show didn't stop as soon as they knew something was wrong. Hence
safety wasn't enacted. They also fired 5 mins early. So it may not have been all
clear.
Safety was breached although it was fortunate no one got hurt. This could have ended very differently.
I agree, everyone should check their program before loading it. It goes without saying. There won't be a government standard enacted for that. Internally, yes, they need to figure something out. Not sure what you mean by "it can, so when you tell us no it can't. I claim bull honky." You can check the program. I don't think anyone said you can't?
This is where I don't understand. When you guys are talking about fuses, I don't know the difference between what you are using and that on common fireworks sold to the public. When the
system is automated, is it a different type of ignition
system? When there are multiple fireworks that are set off with one
cue, is it just different length
fuse or is there some sort of timer that is triggered in the computer sequence that says fire off A then B then C when
cue one is started?
It's different than what's sold to the public but same principle. On professional shells, the "
fuse" is called quickmatch which burns approximately 70 feet/second. There are also fuses that can be inserted between pieces of quickmatch to make each shell last a little longer. These are called time delay chains. Although a chain of shells is lit, the entire sequence to shoot all shells may last 5-10 seconds. Very popular in Europe. When fireworks are lit electronically, it doesn't matter what type of
system is being used. The underlying idea is the same to pop the
electric match. At "0" every single e-match in the show fired at once. All effects then shot. Some lasted longer than others. It's that simple.
A new standard could be written if the old one is broken. However, if it can safely fail as this did, there may not be cause to find a different way to do it. I would think that the industry would want to potentially save a part of their show if they could somehow stop a sequence from continuing when it was accidentally triggered. Really, I am not being a troll here, just trying to understand.
Yes, we all know a new standard COULD be written but nothing is broken. What would it say? Look at your firing script prior to loading into the panel. Everyone does this, someone forgot to. A new standard won't fix someone taking a shortcut and messing up their show.
Please ask questions, then make suggestions. It's hard to even discuss because you're making demands for more
safety and better standards before you know how things work. Hopefully the above makes it easier to understand what happened. If not, I'm happy to keep answering questions
