PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Rain won’t stop the 6 p.m. and midnight New Year’s Eve fireworks shows over Penn’s Landing, organizers said.
“There’s one New Year’s Eve, so the shows will go off,” assured Joe Forkin, president of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.
Some rain is forecast this evening, but it won’t affect the hundreds of fireworks shells in mortar tubes waiting to be shot from a barge in the Delaware River.
“We can fire in the rain. It’s not a problem,” said Kevin Stead, a technician with the firm Pyrotecnico.
The mortar racks are sealed in plastic wrap and the shells are fired through the wrap, Stead explained.
“The nice thing about the shrink wrap is when the fireworks go off, it only burns a little hole. So the rest will stay protected in case it actually is pouring during the show,” he said. “It’s actually a neat little thing. If you look at it in slow motion, you’ll actually see the hole. The heat will come up first and make the hole and then the shell will come out through the hole.”
He said it’s possible the occasional shell might not fire in a hard rain, but the overall show shouldn’t be affected.
The rain-or-shine pyrotechnics will be synchronized to a musical soundtrack, which you can hear on KYW Newsradio at 103.9 FM, 1060 AM or on our app.