March 31, 2024 • 38 mins
Join us for a fireworks extravaganza of conversation with Rick Olsen, owner of Pyro and Fire FX in Gig Harbor, Washington. Discover his transformative journey from firefighter to pyrotechnician, as Rick recounts the heights he's scaled, both literal—in the form of the towering King Dome—and metaphorical, in the impacts his work has had on audiences across the globe. From sporting events to the unforgettable Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop, Rick shares the sheer joy and technical mastery behind each dazzling display.
Venture into the meticulous trade of professional pyrotechnics where regulations, licenses, and written testing are just the beginning. Rick lays bare the complexities of this explosive industry, contrasting the rigorous standards of Washington State with the varying requirements of other states. As the conversation sparks with anecdotes from theatrical productions to the daredevilry of Robbie Knievel, we also delve into the tech horizon—where drones are the newest players in the sky's ballet. Rick's narrative is a testament to the perennial need for expertise and the gravitas of maintaining and advancing professionalism in this booming field.
Lastly, under the shimmer of 'jellyfish' and chrysanthemum fireworks, we address the burning issue of safety in public events, emphasizing the indispensable role of fire department training. The haunting memory of the Rhode Island concert tragedy serves as a stern reminder of what's at stake. We examine the benefits of Rick's ground-breaking training programs for local fire officials. As the episode wraps, Rick reflects on the sheer scale of the Times Square ball drop and the dedicated professionals who orchestrate such breathtaking moments. Today's conversation is guaranteed to light up the skies and warm the heart with every sparkling burst.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rick (00:00):
This is Rick Olsen with Pyro and Fire Effects, getting
ready for One Hour to Doors.
Jon (00:14):
This is One Hour to Doors, a podcast about the business and
soul of the festivals andevents industry.
I am your host, Jon Stone.
Every episode of One Hour toDoors explores the people,
issues, insights and trendsimpacting the enterprise of
bringing people and communitiestogether in common cause.
(00:34):
Our guest today is Rick Olsen,a licensed pyrotechnician and
owner of Pyro and Fire Effects,a leading provider of all things
pyrotechnic and atmospheric inWashington State.
Odds are high that you arefamiliar with Rick's work.
Whether you realize it or not,His pyrotechnic smoke and fog
(00:54):
effects set moods and punctuatemoments at events throughout the
state and across the country.
His clients have included everyprofessional sports team in
Washington State and he hasworked on the grand opening of
Atlantis in Dubai, as well asthe New Year's Eve ball drop in
Times Square.
Most of us never get a peekbehind the scenes to understand
(01:20):
the specialty business ofpyrotechnics.
I'm excited for thisconversation.
Welcome to the show, Rick.
Rick (01:25):
Thanks, Jon, appreciate you having me.
Thank you.
Jon (01:28):
Have you heard any good pyrotechnician jokes lately?
Rick (01:32):
I get asked do you have a light?
That seems to be the mostcommon one, and you know I'd
like to have a dollar for everytime.
I've heard that one, I couldprobably retire by now.
But or do you have all ten ofyour fingers?
That's another one, excellent.
But, no, I don't smoke, so Idon't have a light and I have
all ten of my fingers.
Jon (01:55):
How old were you when you decided you wanted to play with
fire for a living?
Rick (01:59):
Well, I actually came upon this industry in a different
way.
I started out in the early 80s.
I got hired in the fire serviceand I was a firefighter up
until 1999.
And during that time, back inthe mid 80s, I ended up getting
(02:20):
certified as a pyrotechnicianbecause our department decided
to host a show trying to getfamilies in the community
together and not out doing theirown thing more of a safety
thing and just kind of a PRthing for the fire department.
We did that for a few years andthen we kind of outgrew the
(02:40):
area and decided to quit hostingthe show.
And then our real good friend ofmine was a retired state
patrolman and he was doing allthe shows in the kingdom for the
Seattle Mariners, a guy by thename of Jim Sammons.
He had been doing the showsthere for quite a while after he
(03:00):
retired.
He came to me and wanted tohave a couple of weeks off to go
hunting and asked me if I wouldbe willing to do a couple shows
at the kingdom for the Mariners.
And I said sure, love to comein and learn that industry and
see what the indoor fireworkswere like versus doing outdoor
stuff.
I went ahead and did thoseshows for Jim.
(03:23):
Then the next thing I knew I wasdoing basically every show
during the week for the MarinersI hired another guy that was a
Tacoma medic and got him trained.
We covered all the week onesduring the week games and then
Jim would cover the weekendgames.
That turned out to become athing where we started doing
stuff for the Sonics, thePortland Trailblazers, seahawks
(03:47):
and it just kind of exploded.
At that point, literallyfigured Jim.
At that point I decided in 1999to go off and start my own
career doing pyro and fireeffects we target towards.
Sporting events is our primaryclient and then the concert
industry as well and corporateyeah, so you've been doing it on
(04:11):
your own since 99.
Yeah, actually I was doing itbefore that.
I started doing it when theMariners won the playoffs and I
believe that was in 1994 orsomething like that, when they
clenched that division.
I was doing that whole year ofthat.
That was when I first started.
That was when I really starteddoing the indoor stuff.
(04:34):
So things have changeddramatically in the years that
I've been doing it.
Jon (04:40):
I presume you must still find a lot of joy in doing it.
Keep doing it that long.
Rick (04:45):
What I do and a little side note on this is one of the
reasons why I left the fireservice to do this full time.
I had taken one of my kids to aSeattle Mariners game one year
and we're sitting up in the KingDome.
We do all the stuff up in theCoppola and the top of the King
Dome.
We do it when they hit homeruns or during national anthems
(05:10):
or wins.
I'm sitting there with one ofmy kids and this little boy he's
probably four or five stands upin front of us.
When Griffey got up to bat hesaid Griffey hit the ball and
make the fireworks go off.
I thought, okay, what we dodoes have an impact to people.
They do enjoy it.
(05:31):
We're not just up there pushingbuttons and having fun doing
what we enjoy doing, but it's agreat impact to the people that
were coming to those events.
Jon (05:42):
Absolutely King Dome.
I only worked in the King Dome.
I was only in the King Dome afew times in my life, but I
remember working a gig thereonce and seeing the bucket truck
, the lift that they would useto go up to the top, and I'd
never seen a boom that long.
How high was that?
Do you remember?
Rick (06:03):
400 feet up to the very top of that.
Jon (06:06):
And was that the only way to get up there is on the actual
lift, or could you no?
Rick (06:10):
you actually had to climb up the stairs and then there was
a ladder that went up insidethe dome to the edge of the roof
.
Then you would go outside ofthe dome, climb the stairs
across the top of the domeoutside and then another
stairwell up and then drop intothe top up on the very top of
the dome.
Jon (06:29):
Yeah, now I remember looking at that boom and even
just I mean I swear if theperson up there coughed, you
know, just a free play at thatkind of height, was going back
and forth what looked like 10feet or I think the highest I'd
ever been up in a boom was maybe100 feet or something like that
, and even at that it's like wow, man, that's an experience.
Rick (06:48):
Yeah, it was always a good hike to go to work.
Jon (06:53):
When you think about your pyrotechnic career.
If you could do it all overagain, would you do it any
differently?
Rick (07:00):
Would I do it any differently?
No, when I got into it.
There's different pyrotechnics.
There's the shows that you doon 4th of July for cities, that
kind of stuff, and there'scompanies that do that kind of
stuff.
We try to primarily stay withwhat we call close proximity
(07:24):
fireworks.
Where we're with athletes,we're performers.
Our regulations are different.
We have some differentguidelines that we have to go
under versus the outdoorfirework shows.
Storage handling, it's alldifferent.
It's two different types ofthings technically and I
(07:46):
primarily started out doing theoutdoor 4th of July type shows
and then started doing indoorstuff and built that into what
it is for the Northwest, becausewe were really one of the first
people that were ever doingindoor stuff in the area.
Jon (08:03):
Sure, yeah, I understand.
So what?
Let's talk about the business alittle bit.
What kind of credentials do youand your staff maintain?
Rick (08:11):
Majority of my staff are licensed pyrotechnicians through
Washington State, through theWashington State Patrol.
With that they're required todo an apprenticeship, have so
many shows that are under alicensed pyrotechnician and then
go and take a written test downin Olympia to pass that that
test and get a state license.
(08:33):
Our company also has a licensethrough the State Patrol and
then we have all the otherbusiness licenses like any other
business would have.
We also I have a ATF license aswell, which is through the
Alcohol, tobacco and Firearmsfor our company as well.
Jon (08:53):
So are pyrotechnics in the United States generally licensed
on a state basis.
Rick (08:58):
Some states require it and some don't, so I can go.
Anybody can apply for a permitin, say, montana.
They do not require a locallicensed person to be on site.
Washington State anytime youhave pyrotechnics you are
required, according to the RCWand the WACS, to have a licensed
(09:22):
pyrotechnician on site.
Jon (09:24):
A Washington State one.
So if I'm hearing you correctly, then a pyrotechnic company
from out of state can come in.
They can bring older people,but they have to have a
Washington State licensed personon site.
Correct?
Rick (09:37):
And we provide that to a lot of the companies that come
through.
The majority of the concertsthat come through, it's one of
the people that's with us thatdoes do that.
Jon (09:49):
Do you ever do any theatrical productions?
Rick (09:52):
We do some I've actually been.
One of the funniest ones that Ithink I ever had was I got
asked to go and do stuff for theWizard of Oz for a high school
in Oregon and I thought this iskind of weird, but okay and we
gave them a price and they saidokay and so we were down there
(10:14):
for like three weekends doingthe Wizard of Oz for the high
school production and we do sometheatrical stuff.
But, like I said, primarilywe're doing the concerts and
sporting events.
Jon (10:29):
I was going to ask you about if you've done any touring
.
I know, anecdotally, you workedwith Robbie Knievel, didn't you
?
Rick (10:37):
Yes, I guess we did.
Jon (10:39):
Can you talk about that?
Rick (10:40):
Sure.
So this would have beenprobably 15 years ago 20 years
ago now, I guess, probably.
I got a phone call I didn'trecognize the number, I let it
go to voicemail.
And I get this phone call fromRobbie's manager and he asked if
I would be willing to do a showfor Robbie coming up in a
(11:03):
couple of weeks.
And I said sure.
So I called him back and toldhim that I would be happy to do
it and I said you know, I needto sit down and meet with Robbie
and kind of figure out whataccent points that he wants
highlighted in his show.
You know, this was beforeYouTube, where you could look up
(11:23):
something and see what thisperson did.
I just knew he jumped amotorcycle from one point to
another.
So I met with him and hiscomment to me was you're a
professional, I'm a professional, so you do your thing and I'll
do mine and we'll figure out howit works.
And we ended up when that wasall said and done.
(11:46):
I talked to him afterwards and,long story short, he comes up
and gave me a hug and he saysyou got a job as long as you
want, buddy.
So you know he passed away onthe 13th of January last year.
He's one of my best friends,and it was hard.
(12:07):
It was hard, he was one of myclients, but yet he was one of
my best friends too.
So how many years altogetherwith Robbie 16, 17, that we knew
each other and worked together.
Jon (12:22):
That was all road work.
Was it usually like one showper city or was it like a music
tour?
Rick (12:29):
We did.
He had his TV show Knievel'sWild Ride.
That was on A&E.
We were a part of that.
We would do a show one weekend.
It would be in Tucson, arizona,the next week, it would be at
Six Flags in St Louis the nextweek and it could be at Texas
Motor Speedway.
So every weekend I wassomewhere.
(12:50):
For you know, I think there wasa run of like 15 different
jumps every weekend or so.
Every couple weekends Did a lotof traveling with him and some
really fun times.
Jon (13:05):
I could imagine.
Rick (13:06):
And his technical director is a gentleman.
I've probably heard of SpankySpangler.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, he's a world famousstuntman and Spanky's a really
good buddy of mine, the nicestguy you'll ever meet in the
world, the three of us.
I was down in Vegas here, Idon't know, probably four years
ago.
(13:26):
The three of us went and haddinner and good evening together
.
And so yeah, they're both greatguys and Spanky's still around.
Jon (13:38):
Wonderful memories.
Rick (13:39):
Yeah, wonderful memories yeah.
Jon (13:43):
About how many licensed pyros are there in the state
right now.
Do you have any idea Like howbig is the field?
Rick (13:50):
There's an average, I'm guessing.
Somewhere in the state ofWashington there's probably
about 200 licensed pyrotechnicians and probably 90% of
them maybe do one show a yearthe Fourth of July show in a
different city in the state.
Jon (14:07):
They have their license just for the sake of one show.
Rick (14:10):
Fourth of July yeah, interesting, and so there's
others that do a few other shows, here and there, some New
Year's things or something likethat.
Jon (14:21):
Are there continuing education requirements or once
you get your license, are youpretty much good to go?
How do you stay current?
Rick (14:28):
With the state of Washington.
Once you get your license, youare required to have one show a
year to keep your license.
Jon (14:35):
Oh, I see Interesting.
Rick (14:37):
Yep, and then?
If you don't do that, then youhave to start back at ground
zero again.
Jon (14:44):
Are drones impacting your business?
Rick (14:49):
Drones and fireworks.
I, probably 10 years ago, saidsomething to people that I know
that do outdoor shows that Ithink drones are going to be a
thing in the future that we aregoing to be competing with as
far as dollar for dollar, and Ithink there's more and more
(15:13):
drone shows coming up and, likeI said, we're competing for the
same dollars.
They have their advantages.
I know some of the outdoorfireworks shows are actually
getting into the drone businessas well.
I think that there's twodifferent worlds there.
You've got people that want tosee the bang and the boom and
(15:37):
the different elements of afirework versus a drone.
Then you have the drone end ofit, which it's amazing what they
can do with them.
Oh yeah, and I personally kindof enjoy being involved with the
drone and firework combo of thetwo shows, where you get both
(15:57):
elements of it.
I think that you have the bangand boom and people like that,
versus just hearing a buzz fromthe drone.
Jon (16:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
Rick (16:08):
You know, there's kind of two different worlds there.
Jon (16:12):
You know what you just made me think of.
So for the listeners in Seattle, for over 50 years there's been
a tradition called Seafar,which is an umbrella term for a
summer long series of events.
The highlight, the grand finaleof those events are boat races,
hydro races out on LakeWashington.
(16:33):
And what you just made me thinkabout, rick, is as a child I
always looked forward to thehydro races every year.
Some years we'd go down thereas a family and watch it on the
shores of Lake Washington and itwas spectacular.
What was spectacular about itwas just the roar.
That was back when the hydroswere all piston driven engines
and they were just loud.
(16:53):
They'd shake your bones.
They call them the thunderboats.
And then life went on.
I'm an adult and I just kind oftuned out of the whole boat
races thing for decades.
And then about maybe 10 yearsago, just to happenstance, I got
a gig for a couple of summersrunning a stage at the hydro
event and I was shocked by howdifferent the experience had
(17:17):
become, because now it wasn'tthe piston driven boats anymore.
Now these are all turbine boatsInstead of the thunder boats,
shaking your bones and givingyou a sense of fear.
But it was an enjoyable kind offear.
Now it's more like watching andlistening to some mosquitoes
circling around somewhere outthere on the lake.
(17:38):
It struck me as just not beingnearly as fun as it used to be.
So I understand what you'resaying about.
The physicality is what thedifference is, I think.
Rick (17:48):
Yeah, and that's something else too.
Like with the fireworks, theoutdoor fireworks shows.
I have clients come to me andgo oh, we have this budget, we
want a 30 minute fireworks show.
And I go well, you know what?
Here's the thing Time isn'twhat you want on this.
You want to shorten your showup and give yourself more for
(18:10):
the show, because the majorityof the people that go to a
fireworks show are families thatcome and see those and they're
sitting on the lawn with theirlittle four or five year old
kids that have an attention spanof about 10 minutes Good point.
And so after 10, 15 minutes,these kids are starting to lose
(18:31):
their interest.
They've seen things go up andboom.
Okay, now what's next?
Oh, there goes a fire truck,right, right.
You know, it's kind of like theattention span is gone after
about 10 or 15 minutes and Ialways tell my clients I would
rather take that same amount ofmoney and do less time and do
(18:51):
more, because you want them towalk away with the wow factor,
not the snoring effect.
And then you know Totally getit.
Jon (19:02):
I worked for years on the Lake Union Fourth of July show.
Did you ever work on that one?
Yep, I did.
Were you like a local hired asa local shooter?
Rick (19:09):
Because I remember we Yep with Eric Tucker and yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,tucker and those guys.
Jon (19:14):
We've probably actually met back then.
I just don't remember it thatway.
Kase and that whole you go backto the Kase's?
.
Rick (19:21):
I do.
Jon (19:22):
Wow, wasn't that special.
Yep, yep.
That was such a learningexperience for me, so for the
listeners, this particular show.
A long time ago we decided todo something that was actually
kind of controversial for aFourth of July American
Fireworks show, but we broughtin the kind of the first family
of Japanese fireworks to designthese and present these shows
(19:47):
for us.
And the traditional Japanesestyle is very different than
American style fireworks and Idescribe the difference simply
as American fireworks it's aconstant right.
You're usually synchronized tomusic or something like that and
it's just this constant show ofwhatever your total duration is
.
The Japanese shows they'repainting pictures in the sky,
(20:11):
they're painting portraits andmessages in the sky, and they do
it by just like throwing up 100shells all at once and boom,
and they just literally make thesky come to life with this
portraiture abstract portraiturein a sense and it dowses you
for like five seconds and thenit fades out, and then they
allow blackness, just emptyspace, to kind of cleanse your
(20:34):
palate, and then they boom, theythrow up the next picture.
I had never seen anything likethat before, but it was
beautiful.
Rick (20:42):
Yeah, and you know the American culture is you don't
want to have any black skies.
Jon (20:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just a very different approach, two
different approaches.
They're both really cool, it'sjust very, very different.
I was going to ask what's thelargest shell you've ever put up
, and from Lake Union, I can'tremember exactly when this was,
but I remember one year Ericmanaged to scrounge up a couple,
two or three, fourteen inches,so that was the largest I've
(21:08):
ever seen.
How about you?
Rick (21:10):
Largest I've been involved with was you mentioned Eric
Tucker.
There's two people that I wouldconsider in the US the best
pyro designers around, and EricTucker being one of them.
I think he's an amazing at whathe does and I learned a lot
from Eric and he was one of mymentors years ago.
(21:31):
And the other guy is agentleman, phil Gruchy.
They have fireworks by Gruchyout of Long Island.
They do a lot of shows.
You had mentioned the Atlantisthat was in Dubai that I was
involved with Gruchy and thatfamily, another amazing person
(21:52):
that knows the industry andchoreograph amazing work Just
totally incredible.
Him and Eric are my two mentorsthat I look up to over anybody.
So the largest shell that I'veactually been involved with was
at Salt Lake City for theOlympics the Winter Olympics and
(22:14):
that was a 24 inch shell Holycrap yeah.
Jon (22:19):
Did it launch successfully?
Yes, wow.
Rick (22:22):
There was, I think, four or five of them.
Jon (22:25):
I'm imagining that.
My little 14 experience waspretty phenomenal.
I can't even imagine 24.
What's the rule on shells likethat is, for every inch it goes
up 100 feet and breaks 100 feet,is that?
Rick (22:39):
Yeah, I mean that's, that's a good rule of thumb.
You know there's differentshells that do different things.
You know you have differentbreaks in some of them.
So you know, it all kind ofhinges on the shell as well.
Jon (22:51):
But, yeah, good rule of thumb, so that 24 had to go up a
quarter mile or so.
Rick (22:56):
Yeah, it was way up Wow.
Jon (22:58):
Yeah, what's your favorite type of aerial shell?
Rick (23:03):
I like the palms that.
You know they come down andcome back down to the ground.
You just got to have the.
You know obviously can't be inEastern Washington in those in
the middle of the field.
But you know they're abeautiful shell and you know you
got to have clearance and makesure you have a good yeah, you
got to know what you're doing.
Jon (23:21):
I'm a chrysanthemum kind of guy myself.
Rick (23:23):
Yeah.
Jon (23:24):
I've seen some pretty spectacular iterations of
chrysanthemums.
I remember in the last years Iwas doing the Lake Union show
there were two I don't know ifthey were new at the time or
simply just new to our show.
One of them was I called it ajellyfish.
I don't know if that's theactual name for it, but it would
literally move and go up andthen kind of come back down and
(23:45):
then go up again and come backdown like a, just like a
jellyfish.
I mean it had like a 30 secondlifespan.
That was beautiful, and then Ialso remember them.
This is an example of what weprobably could have used some
better judgment on this, but itwas simply a flare on a
parachute.
That was super cool and it waspart of again as an Eric Tucker
(24:05):
design so elaborate, verydeliberate soundtrack and trying
to make all these feelings andemotions come to life.
And so one of the key parts ofone of these sequences was this
flare on a parachute.
But when the show started thatnight the winds were relatively
calm and then pretty quickly thewind started to pick up and
(24:27):
then the wind shifted on usabout mid-show and all of a
sudden the winds were blowingfrom the lake from the barges
right back towards Gasworks Parkand so it got pretty smoky and
then the flare on the parachutewent up and it literally floated
right back towards us and overus and into somewhere into the
(24:48):
neighborhood and I was sittingright next to the fire marshal
in control At the fire marshal Iremember he had a big old frown
on his face, but it was allgood.
I think I read somewhere thatyou actually have trained fire
departments or fire departmentstaff in how to manage or handle
(25:10):
pyrotechnics in their community.
Is that correct?
Yeah, what?
Rick (25:14):
Years ago I had the indoor thing started coming more and
more to light and being moreprevalent out there in the
industry.
I had a lot of fire officialscoming to me, knowing that I had
the fire service background,and coming to me and going, hey,
what is this?
So what I ended up doing was Ifelt that I didn't want to, as
(25:37):
the industry being the oneteaching the fire service, I
wanted to make sure that theyhad the training available to
them.
So I did a whole bunch ofresearch through the American
Pyrotechnic Association andpeople that I knew in the
industry and found a fireofficial out of Cedar Rapids,
iowa, a guy named Scott Beamer.
(25:59):
He was a fire official thatactually was one of them that
did part of the investigation inthe great white show in Warwick
, rhode Island, and he taughtfire service people on indoor
fireworks, flame effects andoutdoor shows.
I actually hired him andbrought him in and we did a day
(26:22):
at the Tacoma Dome trying toremember where else we went.
We had like three differentdays that we would do classroom
for fire officials, then go outand do demonstrations for them
as well on what different thingsdid and what to look for and
that kind of stuff.
So that was back.
I'm going to say 2002, somewherein there.
(26:43):
This industry comes down to andI just touched on it just real
lightly a minute ago about thefire at Warwick, rhode Island,
with great white my goal in theindustry and my goal as a former
fire official is public safetyand that's first and foremost.
(27:03):
That was why I did that.
I wanted the fire officials toknow what they were looking for,
not to have the industry tellthem this is what you need to be
looking for.
You know, it's kind of like thecat, you know telling.
Jon (27:21):
Yeah, exactly what you're saying.
Rick (27:22):
So I wanted them to hear from the fire service, the fire
service hearing from the fireservice.
We did those classes.
I had people actually from LasVegas come up from the fire
department down there and tookthe class.
Scott's now retired, no longerdoing his program.
I would love to have somethingelse like that, just with the
(27:45):
changes that have evolved overthe years, you know, and we get
new people all the time in thefire service that are either
retiring or going into differentdivisions or, you know, going
back out on the engine companyout of an inspection program.
So there is a turnover in that.
And you know it's hard to beproficient in everything when
(28:06):
you're inspecting everything.
Jon (28:09):
That's a really important point.
I've seen this play out so manytimes in so many different ways
.
It transcends power techniques.
This is just public safety as awhole.
But I know in the city ofSeattle for instance and maybe
this is true on a broader basisin the city of Seattle, if
you're a career fire departmentemployee and you aspire to a
(28:30):
higher and higher rank, thenit's part of their program or at
least it was for a long timewhere everybody has to spend at
least two years, like in thisfunction or that function or the
, and the fire marshal's officeis one of those.
So everybody, if your careerpath, if you got your designs on
whatever XYZ along that journey, is mandatory, you have to
(28:53):
spend two years as a firemarshal basically, and I totally
understand why.
That's great.
But it generates a lot ofturnover In that department.
Seattle's been very fortunatefor a long time in having some
folks that choose to just staythere and that continuity.
Frankly that's a big part ofhow Seattle's special events
(29:13):
industry has flourished in thelast 20 or 30 years because of
that continuity.
But the vast majority of folksjust spend their two years and
then they're back on going towherever they were heading in
the first place.
It can be real challenging, andI think about the great white
disaster and I'm really I'mgrateful that you have been
(29:35):
thinking that way and offeringthat kind of training, because
that's another thing I'veobserved in all manner of
special events as I travel fromone city, one jurisdiction, one
region to another.
Sometimes you have highlyexperienced local folks and
that's great.
But oftentimes you don't, andI've seen two ways that that
manifests.
(29:55):
One of them is not great.
It's for lack of that localexperience.
They just say no to all sortsof different ideas, right, and
that you know that's unfortunate.
Even worse, I've experiencedthat in some places.
Sometimes they just say yes andthey don't.
And I know that they don'tnecessarily understand the full
(30:20):
breadth and magnitude of thedecisions that they're making,
and that's even like.
It's like the more that I know,the scarier that becomes.
Yep, I haven't seenhistorically a lot of middle
ground like what you'redescribing.
So the idea of training fromwithin the industry Right,
that's fantastic yeah.
Rick (30:41):
You hit the nail on the head.
I've seen it both ways as well,where you have some fire
officials that will just say nobecause they don't know, and
I'll look at that and go.
This is pretty simple and itshouldn't be a big issue.
But OK, they're the authority,have it jurisdiction in their
(31:01):
house, right?
So if they say no, then it's no.
Then I've had other ones thathave said you can do that and
I'll go.
No, I Wouldn't do that and youknow I have to work in this town
or that town or whateverAnother time and and I want to
(31:22):
sleep at night knowing that,yeah, somebody didn't get hurt.
Or again, my, my bottom line ispublic safety and you know, to
make sure that in the end thatwe don't have an issue.
The fire that happened inWarwick, rhode Island and I and
I bring that up because thatalways sticks in the back of my
mind it was 21 years ago was itthat long already?
Jon (31:43):
Yeah, February.
Rick (31:44):
February was 21 years ago and that fire sticks in the back
of my mind because it wasactually lit by a pyrotechnic
that is the size of a roll ofdimes.
That's how small the device was.
It killed a hundred people, youknow.
People look at and go out thatsmall little thing, you know.
(32:08):
But that small little thing cando as much damage as that big
shell.
Yeah, oh yeah and you knowthat's.
That's what I've always toldpeople that work for me, done
stuff for me.
As soon as you let your guarddown on the smallest thing, it's
time to get out of the businessand move on absolutely you know
(32:28):
it's 20 years, that still feelslike it was yesterday to me.
Yeah, february of February 20,2003, 21 years ago, yeah.
Jon (32:42):
What kind of trends are you seeing in your field these days
?
Rick (32:47):
Biggest trend I see is just the whole thing we touched
on was with the drones.
That's the biggest thing that Isee.
It's kind of interesting in theconcert end of it.
For many years it's beenpyrotechnics and then it became
the flames, became big in theconcert stuff and so now you see
(33:08):
a lot more flames and you dothe pyro and and you know CO2
because you know cost-wise thatyou don't have the permit cost
that it does for pyrotechnics.
So I mean there's been kind ofthe same things but it just kind
of is switching around a littlebit.
Jon (33:25):
I Can remember what a disruption to the outdoor
display industry 9-11 was, butaccording to your timeline
that's kind of the same periodwhere you're kind of just
getting into it.
So it might not have changedyour world enough, but all of a
sudden it became a lot harder toget the bigger shells and
because they're all beingimported right, it's a whole lot
(33:48):
of new barriers popped up.
That it changed the nature ofour 4th of July show.
We had to downsize shells andredesign around smaller shells.
I think the limit was like that, I want to say was tens or
something like that was thebiggest that we could get
Without having to, withouthaving to jump through An insane
(34:08):
amount of hoops.
Rick (34:10):
Yeah, it's changed.
And then you know the wholething with COVID and trying.
Now the manufacturers for thestuff that we do indoors is
manufactured in the US, you knowfrom For the concerts.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, so most of your shellsfor your outdoor shows are,
majority of them, are out ofChina, are made overseas, and
(34:35):
then the stuff that we doindoors is all made in the US.
But with the COVID thing andtrying to get people back to
work and running again, they'refinally getting back to where
they were pre-COVID.
You know it got for a while,right after COVID, that we'd
call and they got here.
I'm not gonna get anything.
(34:57):
Supply and issues, and I thinkthat was kind of when what I was
saying earlier if how Kind ofwent from pyrotechnics to flame
effects, because thepyrotechnics weren't available
and then more people were doingcryo because you couldn't get,
you know, the pyrotechnicsitself, yeah, so it's, it's been
(35:17):
kind of a weird swing of thingsand I see the pyrotechnics
coming back, but it's gonna kindof go full circle.
I see, I suppose everythinggoes full circle if you're
around long enough.
Jon (35:30):
Yep, what advice would you offer for someone, a young
person, who's thinking aboutlooking into a career and
pyrotechnics?
Well, if you're looking for itin it as a career, it's it's
kind of hard to get into A lotof it is somebody that you know
Ideal a lot.
Rick (35:47):
When I Get people that are involved with me as far as
somebody that I feel comfortablewith them as a person that
they're responsible, you knowit's common sense a lot of that.
I evaluate more of that than Ido if they have a college
(36:08):
education or whatever Understand.
You know I want somebody thathas common sense.
That's a really good point.
Jon (36:21):
That's a really good point that you bring up.
Your trade is in the samecategory in my mind as a couple
of other trades like Rigors andsuch to, where the
responsibility is enormous.
The responsibility is beyondwhat the layperson will ever
even think about, and so, yeah,you have to surround yourself.
It's all about the relationship, it's all about the trust.
Rick (36:43):
You know, I've had some very top-notch people that I've
worked with been very, veryfortunate in that and I
appreciate it each and every oneof them along the way.
What do you think of when I askyou what was your greatest hit?
What's your greatest display orperformance that you ever
pulled?
Jon (37:02):
off?
Well, probably, I think it's alittle bit of a challenge.
Rick (37:11):
Well, probably being involved with the ball drop in
Times Square for the millennium.
Jon (37:18):
Say more about that.
Rick (37:20):
You know John Berson.
You've worked with John Bersonfor years.
John asked me if I would helpthem the year prior to the
millennium and do the ball dropat Times Square in New York, and
so I shot one of the sides ofthat, and having it on the front
page of Time magazine the nextday was pretty impressive, wow.
(37:40):
So that was.
That was pretty fun.
Jon (37:44):
I can't even imagine how many people watch that like live
in the street.
Rick (37:49):
I couldn't tell you how many people, but I remember
looking off the rooftop and allyou could see was just Pins of
people where they had bike rackand they'd put them in they'd
put them in like groups so theycould run golf carts through
there and and.
You know, be able to treatpeople if they got hurt
medically or whatever.
But, um, yeah, it was, it wasamazing.
Jon (38:10):
I know, I know tens of millions of people Watch it
around the world, if not, if notmore than that, yeah, wow,
that's a big deal.
Rick, I want to thank you foryour time today and welcoming me
into your home.
Rick (38:23):
I appreciate you coming by , Jon, and it's good to see you
again after all these years, andI've always enjoyed working
with you over the years andappreciate the opportunity to
have me on.
I'll call one hour, two doors.
This is Rick Olsen with Pyro and Fire Effects, getting
ready for One Hour to Doors.
Jon (00:14):
This is One Hour to Doors, a podcast about the business and
soul of the festivals andevents industry.
I am your host, Jon Stone.
Every episode of One Hour toDoors explores the people,
issues, insights and trendsimpacting the enterprise of
bringing people and communitiestogether in common cause.
(00:34):
Our guest today is Rick Olsen,a licensed pyrotechnician and
owner of Pyro and Fire Effects,a leading provider of all things
pyrotechnic and atmospheric inWashington State.
Odds are high that you arefamiliar with Rick's work.
Whether you realize it or not,His pyrotechnic smoke and fog
(00:54):
effects set moods and punctuatemoments at events throughout the
state and across the country.
His clients have included everyprofessional sports team in
Washington State and he hasworked on the grand opening of
Atlantis in Dubai, as well asthe New Year's Eve ball drop in
Times Square.
Most of us never get a peekbehind the scenes to understand
(01:20):
the specialty business ofpyrotechnics.
I'm excited for thisconversation.
Welcome to the show, Rick.
Rick (01:25):
Thanks, Jon, appreciate you having me.
Thank you.
Jon (01:28):
Have you heard any good pyrotechnician jokes lately?
Rick (01:32):
I get asked do you have a light?
That seems to be the mostcommon one, and you know I'd
like to have a dollar for everytime.
I've heard that one, I couldprobably retire by now.
But or do you have all ten ofyour fingers?
That's another one, excellent.
But, no, I don't smoke, so Idon't have a light and I have
all ten of my fingers.
Jon (01:55):
How old were you when you decided you wanted to play with
fire for a living?
Rick (01:59):
Well, I actually came upon this industry in a different
way.
I started out in the early 80s.
I got hired in the fire serviceand I was a firefighter up
until 1999.
And during that time, back inthe mid 80s, I ended up getting
(02:20):
certified as a pyrotechnicianbecause our department decided
to host a show trying to getfamilies in the community
together and not out doing theirown thing more of a safety
thing and just kind of a PRthing for the fire department.
We did that for a few years andthen we kind of outgrew the
(02:40):
area and decided to quit hostingthe show.
And then our real good friend ofmine was a retired state
patrolman and he was doing allthe shows in the kingdom for the
Seattle Mariners, a guy by thename of Jim Sammons.
He had been doing the showsthere for quite a while after he
(03:00):
retired.
He came to me and wanted tohave a couple of weeks off to go
hunting and asked me if I wouldbe willing to do a couple shows
at the kingdom for the Mariners.
And I said sure, love to comein and learn that industry and
see what the indoor fireworkswere like versus doing outdoor
stuff.
I went ahead and did thoseshows for Jim.
(03:23):
Then the next thing I knew I wasdoing basically every show
during the week for the MarinersI hired another guy that was a
Tacoma medic and got him trained.
We covered all the week onesduring the week games and then
Jim would cover the weekendgames.
That turned out to become athing where we started doing
stuff for the Sonics, thePortland Trailblazers, seahawks
(03:47):
and it just kind of exploded.
At that point, literallyfigured Jim.
At that point I decided in 1999to go off and start my own
career doing pyro and fireeffects we target towards.
Sporting events is our primaryclient and then the concert
industry as well and corporateyeah, so you've been doing it on
(04:11):
your own since 99.
Yeah, actually I was doing itbefore that.
I started doing it when theMariners won the playoffs and I
believe that was in 1994 orsomething like that, when they
clenched that division.
I was doing that whole year ofthat.
That was when I first started.
That was when I really starteddoing the indoor stuff.
(04:34):
So things have changeddramatically in the years that
I've been doing it.
Jon (04:40):
I presume you must still find a lot of joy in doing it.
Keep doing it that long.
Rick (04:45):
What I do and a little side note on this is one of the
reasons why I left the fireservice to do this full time.
I had taken one of my kids to aSeattle Mariners game one year
and we're sitting up in the KingDome.
We do all the stuff up in theCoppola and the top of the King
Dome.
We do it when they hit homeruns or during national anthems
(05:10):
or wins.
I'm sitting there with one ofmy kids and this little boy he's
probably four or five stands upin front of us.
When Griffey got up to bat hesaid Griffey hit the ball and
make the fireworks go off.
I thought, okay, what we dodoes have an impact to people.
They do enjoy it.
(05:31):
We're not just up there pushingbuttons and having fun doing
what we enjoy doing, but it's agreat impact to the people that
were coming to those events.
Jon (05:42):
Absolutely King Dome.
I only worked in the King Dome.
I was only in the King Dome afew times in my life, but I
remember working a gig thereonce and seeing the bucket truck
, the lift that they would useto go up to the top, and I'd
never seen a boom that long.
How high was that?
Do you remember?
Rick (06:03):
400 feet up to the very top of that.
Jon (06:06):
And was that the only way to get up there is on the actual
lift, or could you no?
Rick (06:10):
you actually had to climb up the stairs and then there was
a ladder that went up insidethe dome to the edge of the roof
.
Then you would go outside ofthe dome, climb the stairs
across the top of the domeoutside and then another
stairwell up and then drop intothe top up on the very top of
the dome.
Jon (06:29):
Yeah, now I remember looking at that boom and even
just I mean I swear if theperson up there coughed, you
know, just a free play at thatkind of height, was going back
and forth what looked like 10feet or I think the highest I'd
ever been up in a boom was maybe100 feet or something like that
, and even at that it's like wow, man, that's an experience.
Rick (06:48):
Yeah, it was always a good hike to go to work.
Jon (06:53):
When you think about your pyrotechnic career.
If you could do it all overagain, would you do it any
differently?
Rick (07:00):
Would I do it any differently?
No, when I got into it.
There's different pyrotechnics.
There's the shows that you doon 4th of July for cities, that
kind of stuff, and there'scompanies that do that kind of
stuff.
We try to primarily stay withwhat we call close proximity
(07:24):
fireworks.
Where we're with athletes,we're performers.
Our regulations are different.
We have some differentguidelines that we have to go
under versus the outdoorfirework shows.
Storage handling, it's alldifferent.
It's two different types ofthings technically and I
(07:46):
primarily started out doing theoutdoor 4th of July type shows
and then started doing indoorstuff and built that into what
it is for the Northwest, becausewe were really one of the first
people that were ever doingindoor stuff in the area.
Jon (08:03):
Sure, yeah, I understand.
So what?
Let's talk about the business alittle bit.
What kind of credentials do youand your staff maintain?
Rick (08:11):
Majority of my staff are licensed pyrotechnicians through
Washington State, through theWashington State Patrol.
With that they're required todo an apprenticeship, have so
many shows that are under alicensed pyrotechnician and then
go and take a written test downin Olympia to pass that that
test and get a state license.
(08:33):
Our company also has a licensethrough the State Patrol and
then we have all the otherbusiness licenses like any other
business would have.
We also I have a ATF license aswell, which is through the
Alcohol, tobacco and Firearmsfor our company as well.
Jon (08:53):
So are pyrotechnics in the United States generally licensed
on a state basis.
Rick (08:58):
Some states require it and some don't, so I can go.
Anybody can apply for a permitin, say, montana.
They do not require a locallicensed person to be on site.
Washington State anytime youhave pyrotechnics you are
required, according to the RCWand the WACS, to have a licensed
(09:22):
pyrotechnician on site.
Jon (09:24):
A Washington State one.
So if I'm hearing you correctly, then a pyrotechnic company
from out of state can come in.
They can bring older people,but they have to have a
Washington State licensed personon site.
Correct?
Rick (09:37):
And we provide that to a lot of the companies that come
through.
The majority of the concertsthat come through, it's one of
the people that's with us thatdoes do that.
Jon (09:49):
Do you ever do any theatrical productions?
Rick (09:52):
We do some I've actually been.
One of the funniest ones that Ithink I ever had was I got
asked to go and do stuff for theWizard of Oz for a high school
in Oregon and I thought this iskind of weird, but okay and we
gave them a price and they saidokay and so we were down there
(10:14):
for like three weekends doingthe Wizard of Oz for the high
school production and we do sometheatrical stuff.
But, like I said, primarilywe're doing the concerts and
sporting events.
Jon (10:29):
I was going to ask you about if you've done any touring
.
I know, anecdotally, you workedwith Robbie Knievel, didn't you
?
Rick (10:37):
Yes, I guess we did.
Jon (10:39):
Can you talk about that?
Rick (10:40):
Sure.
So this would have beenprobably 15 years ago 20 years
ago now, I guess, probably.
I got a phone call I didn'trecognize the number, I let it
go to voicemail.
And I get this phone call fromRobbie's manager and he asked if
I would be willing to do a showfor Robbie coming up in a
(11:03):
couple of weeks.
And I said sure.
So I called him back and toldhim that I would be happy to do
it and I said you know, I needto sit down and meet with Robbie
and kind of figure out whataccent points that he wants
highlighted in his show.
You know, this was beforeYouTube, where you could look up
(11:23):
something and see what thisperson did.
I just knew he jumped amotorcycle from one point to
another.
So I met with him and hiscomment to me was you're a
professional, I'm a professional, so you do your thing and I'll
do mine and we'll figure out howit works.
And we ended up when that wasall said and done.
(11:46):
I talked to him afterwards and,long story short, he comes up
and gave me a hug and he saysyou got a job as long as you
want, buddy.
So you know he passed away onthe 13th of January last year.
He's one of my best friends,and it was hard.
(12:07):
It was hard, he was one of myclients, but yet he was one of
my best friends too.
So how many years altogetherwith Robbie 16, 17, that we knew
each other and worked together.
Jon (12:22):
That was all road work.
Was it usually like one showper city or was it like a music
tour?
Rick (12:29):
We did.
He had his TV show Knievel'sWild Ride.
That was on A&E.
We were a part of that.
We would do a show one weekend.
It would be in Tucson, arizona,the next week, it would be at
Six Flags in St Louis the nextweek and it could be at Texas
Motor Speedway.
So every weekend I wassomewhere.
(12:50):
For you know, I think there wasa run of like 15 different
jumps every weekend or so.
Every couple weekends Did a lotof traveling with him and some
really fun times.
Jon (13:05):
I could imagine.
Rick (13:06):
And his technical director is a gentleman.
I've probably heard of SpankySpangler.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, he's a world famousstuntman and Spanky's a really
good buddy of mine, the nicestguy you'll ever meet in the
world, the three of us.
I was down in Vegas here, Idon't know, probably four years
ago.
(13:26):
The three of us went and haddinner and good evening together
.
And so yeah, they're both greatguys and Spanky's still around.
Jon (13:38):
Wonderful memories.
Rick (13:39):
Yeah, wonderful memories yeah.
Jon (13:43):
About how many licensed pyros are there in the state
right now.
Do you have any idea Like howbig is the field?
Rick (13:50):
There's an average, I'm guessing.
Somewhere in the state ofWashington there's probably
about 200 licensed pyrotechnicians and probably 90% of
them maybe do one show a yearthe Fourth of July show in a
different city in the state.
Jon (14:07):
They have their license just for the sake of one show.
Rick (14:10):
Fourth of July yeah, interesting, and so there's
others that do a few other shows, here and there, some New
Year's things or something likethat.
Jon (14:21):
Are there continuing education requirements or once
you get your license, are youpretty much good to go?
How do you stay current?
Rick (14:28):
With the state of Washington.
Once you get your license, youare required to have one show a
year to keep your license.
Jon (14:35):
Oh, I see Interesting.
Rick (14:37):
Yep, and then?
If you don't do that, then youhave to start back at ground
zero again.
Jon (14:44):
Are drones impacting your business?
Rick (14:49):
Drones and fireworks.
I, probably 10 years ago, saidsomething to people that I know
that do outdoor shows that Ithink drones are going to be a
thing in the future that we aregoing to be competing with as
far as dollar for dollar, and Ithink there's more and more
(15:13):
drone shows coming up and, likeI said, we're competing for the
same dollars.
They have their advantages.
I know some of the outdoorfireworks shows are actually
getting into the drone businessas well.
I think that there's twodifferent worlds there.
You've got people that want tosee the bang and the boom and
(15:37):
the different elements of afirework versus a drone.
Then you have the drone end ofit, which it's amazing what they
can do with them.
Oh yeah, and I personally kindof enjoy being involved with the
drone and firework combo of thetwo shows, where you get both
(15:57):
elements of it.
I think that you have the bangand boom and people like that,
versus just hearing a buzz fromthe drone.
Jon (16:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
Rick (16:08):
You know, there's kind of two different worlds there.
Jon (16:12):
You know what you just made me think of.
So for the listeners in Seattle, for over 50 years there's been
a tradition called Seafar,which is an umbrella term for a
summer long series of events.
The highlight, the grand finaleof those events are boat races,
hydro races out on LakeWashington.
(16:33):
And what you just made me thinkabout, rick, is as a child I
always looked forward to thehydro races every year.
Some years we'd go down thereas a family and watch it on the
shores of Lake Washington and itwas spectacular.
What was spectacular about itwas just the roar.
That was back when the hydroswere all piston driven engines
and they were just loud.
(16:53):
They'd shake your bones.
They call them the thunderboats.
And then life went on.
I'm an adult and I just kind oftuned out of the whole boat
races thing for decades.
And then about maybe 10 yearsago, just to happenstance, I got
a gig for a couple of summersrunning a stage at the hydro
event and I was shocked by howdifferent the experience had
(17:17):
become, because now it wasn'tthe piston driven boats anymore.
Now these are all turbine boatsInstead of the thunder boats,
shaking your bones and givingyou a sense of fear.
But it was an enjoyable kind offear.
Now it's more like watching andlistening to some mosquitoes
circling around somewhere outthere on the lake.
(17:38):
It struck me as just not beingnearly as fun as it used to be.
So I understand what you'resaying about.
The physicality is what thedifference is, I think.
Rick (17:48):
Yeah, and that's something else too.
Like with the fireworks, theoutdoor fireworks shows.
I have clients come to me andgo oh, we have this budget, we
want a 30 minute fireworks show.
And I go well, you know what?
Here's the thing Time isn'twhat you want on this.
You want to shorten your showup and give yourself more for
(18:10):
the show, because the majorityof the people that go to a
fireworks show are families thatcome and see those and they're
sitting on the lawn with theirlittle four or five year old
kids that have an attention spanof about 10 minutes Good point.
And so after 10, 15 minutes,these kids are starting to lose
(18:31):
their interest.
They've seen things go up andboom.
Okay, now what's next?
Oh, there goes a fire truck,right, right.
You know, it's kind of like theattention span is gone after
about 10 or 15 minutes and Ialways tell my clients I would
rather take that same amount ofmoney and do less time and do
(18:51):
more, because you want them towalk away with the wow factor,
not the snoring effect.
And then you know Totally getit.
Jon (19:02):
I worked for years on the Lake Union Fourth of July show.
Did you ever work on that one?
Yep, I did.
Were you like a local hired asa local shooter?
Rick (19:09):
Because I remember we Yep with Eric Tucker and yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,tucker and those guys.
Jon (19:14):
We've probably actually met back then.
I just don't remember it thatway.
Kase and that whole you go backto the Kase's?
.
Rick (19:21):
I do.
Jon (19:22):
Wow, wasn't that special.
Yep, yep.
That was such a learningexperience for me, so for the
listeners, this particular show.
A long time ago we decided todo something that was actually
kind of controversial for aFourth of July American
Fireworks show, but we broughtin the kind of the first family
of Japanese fireworks to designthese and present these shows
(19:47):
for us.
And the traditional Japanesestyle is very different than
American style fireworks and Idescribe the difference simply
as American fireworks it's aconstant right.
You're usually synchronized tomusic or something like that and
it's just this constant show ofwhatever your total duration is
.
The Japanese shows they'repainting pictures in the sky,
(20:11):
they're painting portraits andmessages in the sky, and they do
it by just like throwing up 100shells all at once and boom,
and they just literally make thesky come to life with this
portraiture abstract portraiturein a sense and it dowses you
for like five seconds and thenit fades out, and then they
allow blackness, just emptyspace, to kind of cleanse your
(20:34):
palate, and then they boom, theythrow up the next picture.
I had never seen anything likethat before, but it was
beautiful.
Rick (20:42):
Yeah, and you know the American culture is you don't
want to have any black skies.
Jon (20:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just a very different approach, two
different approaches.
They're both really cool, it'sjust very, very different.
I was going to ask what's thelargest shell you've ever put up
, and from Lake Union, I can'tremember exactly when this was,
but I remember one year Ericmanaged to scrounge up a couple,
two or three, fourteen inches,so that was the largest I've
(21:08):
ever seen.
How about you?
Rick (21:10):
Largest I've been involved with was you mentioned Eric
Tucker.
There's two people that I wouldconsider in the US the best
pyro designers around, and EricTucker being one of them.
I think he's an amazing at whathe does and I learned a lot
from Eric and he was one of mymentors years ago.
(21:31):
And the other guy is agentleman, phil Gruchy.
They have fireworks by Gruchyout of Long Island.
They do a lot of shows.
You had mentioned the Atlantisthat was in Dubai that I was
involved with Gruchy and thatfamily, another amazing person
(21:52):
that knows the industry andchoreograph amazing work Just
totally incredible.
Him and Eric are my two mentorsthat I look up to over anybody.
So the largest shell that I'veactually been involved with was
at Salt Lake City for theOlympics the Winter Olympics and
(22:14):
that was a 24 inch shell Holycrap yeah.
Jon (22:19):
Did it launch successfully?
Yes, wow.
Rick (22:22):
There was, I think, four or five of them.
Jon (22:25):
I'm imagining that.
My little 14 experience waspretty phenomenal.
I can't even imagine 24.
What's the rule on shells likethat is, for every inch it goes
up 100 feet and breaks 100 feet,is that?
Rick (22:39):
Yeah, I mean that's, that's a good rule of thumb.
You know there's differentshells that do different things.
You know you have differentbreaks in some of them.
So you know, it all kind ofhinges on the shell as well.
Jon (22:51):
But, yeah, good rule of thumb, so that 24 had to go up a
quarter mile or so.
Rick (22:56):
Yeah, it was way up Wow.
Jon (22:58):
Yeah, what's your favorite type of aerial shell?
Rick (23:03):
I like the palms that.
You know they come down andcome back down to the ground.
You just got to have the.
You know obviously can't be inEastern Washington in those in
the middle of the field.
But you know they're abeautiful shell and you know you
got to have clearance and makesure you have a good yeah, you
got to know what you're doing.
Jon (23:21):
I'm a chrysanthemum kind of guy myself.
Rick (23:23):
Yeah.
Jon (23:24):
I've seen some pretty spectacular iterations of
chrysanthemums.
I remember in the last years Iwas doing the Lake Union show
there were two I don't know ifthey were new at the time or
simply just new to our show.
One of them was I called it ajellyfish.
I don't know if that's theactual name for it, but it would
literally move and go up andthen kind of come back down and
(23:45):
then go up again and come backdown like a, just like a
jellyfish.
I mean it had like a 30 secondlifespan.
That was beautiful, and then Ialso remember them.
This is an example of what weprobably could have used some
better judgment on this, but itwas simply a flare on a
parachute.
That was super cool and it waspart of again as an Eric Tucker
(24:05):
design so elaborate, verydeliberate soundtrack and trying
to make all these feelings andemotions come to life.
And so one of the key parts ofone of these sequences was this
flare on a parachute.
But when the show started thatnight the winds were relatively
calm and then pretty quickly thewind started to pick up and
(24:27):
then the wind shifted on usabout mid-show and all of a
sudden the winds were blowingfrom the lake from the barges
right back towards Gasworks Parkand so it got pretty smoky and
then the flare on the parachutewent up and it literally floated
right back towards us and overus and into somewhere into the
(24:48):
neighborhood and I was sittingright next to the fire marshal
in control At the fire marshal Iremember he had a big old frown
on his face, but it was allgood.
I think I read somewhere thatyou actually have trained fire
departments or fire departmentstaff in how to manage or handle
(25:10):
pyrotechnics in their community.
Is that correct?
Yeah, what?
Rick (25:14):
Years ago I had the indoor thing started coming more and
more to light and being moreprevalent out there in the
industry.
I had a lot of fire officialscoming to me, knowing that I had
the fire service background,and coming to me and going, hey,
what is this?
So what I ended up doing was Ifelt that I didn't want to, as
(25:37):
the industry being the oneteaching the fire service, I
wanted to make sure that theyhad the training available to
them.
So I did a whole bunch ofresearch through the American
Pyrotechnic Association andpeople that I knew in the
industry and found a fireofficial out of Cedar Rapids,
iowa, a guy named Scott Beamer.
(25:59):
He was a fire official thatactually was one of them that
did part of the investigation inthe great white show in Warwick
, rhode Island, and he taughtfire service people on indoor
fireworks, flame effects andoutdoor shows.
I actually hired him andbrought him in and we did a day
(26:22):
at the Tacoma Dome trying toremember where else we went.
We had like three differentdays that we would do classroom
for fire officials, then go outand do demonstrations for them
as well on what different thingsdid and what to look for and
that kind of stuff.
So that was back.
I'm going to say 2002, somewherein there.
(26:43):
This industry comes down to andI just touched on it just real
lightly a minute ago about thefire at Warwick, rhode Island,
with great white my goal in theindustry and my goal as a former
fire official is public safetyand that's first and foremost.
(27:03):
That was why I did that.
I wanted the fire officials toknow what they were looking for,
not to have the industry tellthem this is what you need to be
looking for.
You know, it's kind of like thecat, you know telling.
Jon (27:21):
Yeah, exactly what you're saying.
Rick (27:22):
So I wanted them to hear from the fire service, the fire
service hearing from the fireservice.
We did those classes.
I had people actually from LasVegas come up from the fire
department down there and tookthe class.
Scott's now retired, no longerdoing his program.
I would love to have somethingelse like that, just with the
(27:45):
changes that have evolved overthe years, you know, and we get
new people all the time in thefire service that are either
retiring or going into differentdivisions or, you know, going
back out on the engine companyout of an inspection program.
So there is a turnover in that.
And you know it's hard to beproficient in everything when
(28:06):
you're inspecting everything.
Jon (28:09):
That's a really important point.
I've seen this play out so manytimes in so many different ways
.
It transcends power techniques.
This is just public safety as awhole.
But I know in the city ofSeattle for instance and maybe
this is true on a broader basisin the city of Seattle, if
you're a career fire departmentemployee and you aspire to a
(28:30):
higher and higher rank, thenit's part of their program or at
least it was for a long timewhere everybody has to spend at
least two years, like in thisfunction or that function or the
, and the fire marshal's officeis one of those.
So everybody, if your careerpath, if you got your designs on
whatever XYZ along that journey, is mandatory, you have to
(28:53):
spend two years as a firemarshal basically, and I totally
understand why.
That's great.
But it generates a lot ofturnover In that department.
Seattle's been very fortunatefor a long time in having some
folks that choose to just staythere and that continuity.
Frankly that's a big part ofhow Seattle's special events
(29:13):
industry has flourished in thelast 20 or 30 years because of
that continuity.
But the vast majority of folksjust spend their two years and
then they're back on going towherever they were heading in
the first place.
It can be real challenging, andI think about the great white
disaster and I'm really I'mgrateful that you have been
(29:35):
thinking that way and offeringthat kind of training, because
that's another thing I'veobserved in all manner of
special events as I travel fromone city, one jurisdiction, one
region to another.
Sometimes you have highlyexperienced local folks and
that's great.
But oftentimes you don't, andI've seen two ways that that
manifests.
(29:55):
One of them is not great.
It's for lack of that localexperience.
They just say no to all sortsof different ideas, right, and
that you know that's unfortunate.
Even worse, I've experiencedthat in some places.
Sometimes they just say yes andthey don't.
And I know that they don'tnecessarily understand the full
(30:20):
breadth and magnitude of thedecisions that they're making,
and that's even like.
It's like the more that I know,the scarier that becomes.
Yep, I haven't seenhistorically a lot of middle
ground like what you'redescribing.
So the idea of training fromwithin the industry Right,
that's fantastic yeah.
Rick (30:41):
You hit the nail on the head.
I've seen it both ways as well,where you have some fire
officials that will just say nobecause they don't know, and
I'll look at that and go.
This is pretty simple and itshouldn't be a big issue.
But OK, they're the authority,have it jurisdiction in their
(31:01):
house, right?
So if they say no, then it's no.
Then I've had other ones thathave said you can do that and
I'll go.
No, I Wouldn't do that and youknow I have to work in this town
or that town or whateverAnother time and and I want to
(31:22):
sleep at night knowing that,yeah, somebody didn't get hurt.
Or again, my, my bottom line ispublic safety and you know, to
make sure that in the end thatwe don't have an issue.
The fire that happened inWarwick, rhode Island and I and
I bring that up because thatalways sticks in the back of my
mind it was 21 years ago was itthat long already?
Jon (31:43):
Yeah, February.
Rick (31:44):
February was 21 years ago and that fire sticks in the back
of my mind because it wasactually lit by a pyrotechnic
that is the size of a roll ofdimes.
That's how small the device was.
It killed a hundred people, youknow.
People look at and go out thatsmall little thing, you know.
(32:08):
But that small little thing cando as much damage as that big
shell.
Yeah, oh yeah and you knowthat's.
That's what I've always toldpeople that work for me, done
stuff for me.
As soon as you let your guarddown on the smallest thing, it's
time to get out of the businessand move on absolutely you know
(32:28):
it's 20 years, that still feelslike it was yesterday to me.
Yeah, february of February 20,2003, 21 years ago, yeah.
Jon (32:42):
What kind of trends are you seeing in your field these days
?
Rick (32:47):
Biggest trend I see is just the whole thing we touched
on was with the drones.
That's the biggest thing that Isee.
It's kind of interesting in theconcert end of it.
For many years it's beenpyrotechnics and then it became
the flames, became big in theconcert stuff and so now you see
(33:08):
a lot more flames and you dothe pyro and and you know CO2
because you know cost-wise thatyou don't have the permit cost
that it does for pyrotechnics.
So I mean there's been kind ofthe same things but it just kind
of is switching around a littlebit.
Jon (33:25):
I Can remember what a disruption to the outdoor
display industry 9-11 was, butaccording to your timeline
that's kind of the same periodwhere you're kind of just
getting into it.
So it might not have changedyour world enough, but all of a
sudden it became a lot harder toget the bigger shells and
because they're all beingimported right, it's a whole lot
(33:48):
of new barriers popped up.
That it changed the nature ofour 4th of July show.
We had to downsize shells andredesign around smaller shells.
I think the limit was like that, I want to say was tens or
something like that was thebiggest that we could get
Without having to, withouthaving to jump through An insane
(34:08):
amount of hoops.
Rick (34:10):
Yeah, it's changed.
And then you know the wholething with COVID and trying.
Now the manufacturers for thestuff that we do indoors is
manufactured in the US, you knowfrom For the concerts.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, so most of your shellsfor your outdoor shows are,
majority of them, are out ofChina, are made overseas, and
(34:35):
then the stuff that we doindoors is all made in the US.
But with the COVID thing andtrying to get people back to
work and running again, they'refinally getting back to where
they were pre-COVID.
You know it got for a while,right after COVID, that we'd
call and they got here.
I'm not gonna get anything.
(34:57):
Supply and issues, and I thinkthat was kind of when what I was
saying earlier if how Kind ofwent from pyrotechnics to flame
effects, because thepyrotechnics weren't available
and then more people were doingcryo because you couldn't get,
you know, the pyrotechnicsitself, yeah, so it's, it's been
(35:17):
kind of a weird swing of thingsand I see the pyrotechnics
coming back, but it's gonna kindof go full circle.
I see, I suppose everythinggoes full circle if you're
around long enough.
Jon (35:30):
Yep, what advice would you offer for someone, a young
person, who's thinking aboutlooking into a career and
pyrotechnics?
Well, if you're looking for itin it as a career, it's it's
kind of hard to get into A lotof it is somebody that you know
Ideal a lot.
Rick (35:47):
When I Get people that are involved with me as far as
somebody that I feel comfortablewith them as a person that
they're responsible, you knowit's common sense a lot of that.
I evaluate more of that than Ido if they have a college
(36:08):
education or whatever Understand.
You know I want somebody thathas common sense.
That's a really good point.
Jon (36:21):
That's a really good point that you bring up.
Your trade is in the samecategory in my mind as a couple
of other trades like Rigors andsuch to, where the
responsibility is enormous.
The responsibility is beyondwhat the layperson will ever
even think about, and so, yeah,you have to surround yourself.
It's all about the relationship, it's all about the trust.
Rick (36:43):
You know, I've had some very top-notch people that I've
worked with been very, veryfortunate in that and I
appreciate it each and every oneof them along the way.
What do you think of when I askyou what was your greatest hit?
What's your greatest display orperformance that you ever
pulled?
Jon (37:02):
off?
Well, probably, I think it's alittle bit of a challenge.
Rick (37:11):
Well, probably being involved with the ball drop in
Times Square for the millennium.
Jon (37:18):
Say more about that.
Rick (37:20):
You know John Berson.
You've worked with John Bersonfor years.
John asked me if I would helpthem the year prior to the
millennium and do the ball dropat Times Square in New York, and
so I shot one of the sides ofthat, and having it on the front
page of Time magazine the nextday was pretty impressive, wow.
(37:40):
So that was.
That was pretty fun.
Jon (37:44):
I can't even imagine how many people watch that like live
in the street.
Rick (37:49):
I couldn't tell you how many people, but I remember
looking off the rooftop and allyou could see was just Pins of
people where they had bike rackand they'd put them in they'd
put them in like groups so theycould run golf carts through
there and and.
You know, be able to treatpeople if they got hurt
medically or whatever.
But, um, yeah, it was, it wasamazing.
Jon (38:10):
I know, I know tens of millions of people Watch it
around the world, if not, if notmore than that, yeah, wow,
that's a big deal.
Rick, I want to thank you foryour time today and welcoming me
into your home.
Rick (38:23):
I appreciate you coming by , Jon, and it's good to see you
again after all these years, andI've always enjoyed working
with you over the years andappreciate the opportunity to
have me on.
I'll call one hour, two doors.
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