What to expect with Zambelli training?

[Delwely]

Hello! I live in Connecticut and will be turning 18 later this year. I've been fascinated by fireworks as long as I can remember, and always thought it'd be cool to be one of those people down there shooting the shows, and since I started watching Dave's videos a year or so ago, I've come to realize how easily achievable that dream is. I plan to try working for Zambelli once I'm 18 for two main reasons, they shoot my town's annual July 4th show, and I'm fairly familiar with them through watching all of Dave's videos. I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me what to expect with their training, do they do it online nowadays like I've heard some companies do? Will I have to travel to PA? I'm also a bit curious what the process is for actually getting onto a show, do they contact you for each show they want you to work on, or do they give you a list of shows they're doing in your area, and you sign up for the ones you want to work on? Any information would be awesome!

[displayfireworks1]

Hi its Dave, thanks for following my videos. I inspired many a young man to want to work a fireworks display. If you were 18 and I worked a fireworks display in Connecticut I would probably hire you for the day. That is if you do not mind working hard in the sun all day until late night hours. I get these messages closer to the July 4th holiday when the fireworks fever is high. I can tell you are a little more serious because it is end of January and cold outside. I hired people a few times off the internet that watched my videos. Some of the people that watched my videos worked for other companies and the crew is amazed how much they knew on their first day.
If you are young and new and want to work a fireworks display , offer labor, loading , unloading the truck , carrying lifting hammering etc. That will help you get on crew. Not sure if Zambelli has training in that area or not. Will you be 18 years before the July 4th holiday?

[Delwely]

No, September, so the earliest I'd start would be the 2024 season. I'm pretty confident I wouldn't learn anything new from training after watching so many of your videos, I just thought it was something you had to do to get anywhere near a professional display. So the guys you shoot shows with in your videos work directly for you, not Zambelli, and aren't professionally trained? I would love to offer such labor but I don't know how I would go about doing that since I don't actually know the people who shoot my town's show.

[Delwely]

Most of my family is in SC so we visit pretty often, I'm actually there right now. Naturally, I took advantage of fireworks being legal, unlike CT, and got a bunch of stuff. Mostly shells as cakes seem kinda boring to me, just lighting one fuse and automatically sending a bunch of pretty small shells up doesn't seem nearly as fun as lighting each shell and getting a much bigger boom. Anyway, I was getting some visco fuse and I ended up mentioning something about quick match, and the guy who owns the store was like "How does a young guy like you know about quick match?" So we got to talking for 15 minutes about fireworks, laws, regulations, and such. He said he was really surprised how much I knew, which is almost entirely from watching your videos.

[displayfireworks1]

Yes there is training and some states require certificates , some states have no training it varies by state. But most states have a provision for a new person to work on a crew during the learning phase. Help and labor is always needed , so even if you are not fully trained or new you can still be part of the crew for the day and night. Until you turn 18 in 2024 , keep having fun and practice using fireworks in a safe manner. When you are 18 then officially try to get on a crew. I am glad I taught you somethings about fireworks.

[RalphieJ]

The very first thing that I was told my first time out was "It's fire WORK, not fire PLAY."
Like Dave said above, it's a long, hard day. Water is usually supplied, but bring lots of sunscreen, mosquito repellant, and a pair of good work gloves.
If it's a hand fired show, and if your hands aren't shaking on the few shells, or if they're still shaking after the first few shells, you're in the wrong business.

[Delwely]

Oh yes. I'm very aware it's 95% HARD work and 5% "fun". Just for people like us, that 5% fun is well worth the 95% work. If you think it's all fun after watching Dave's videos, then you probably can't be trusted to work with explosives anyway XD

[Mattp]

I can’t speak for Zambellis process,, but I do work for another large company .. the training was pretty comprehensive,, 2 full days mostly safety/ regulations , and a breakdown of their firing systems with a test at the end,, then work on one show unpaid ,, after that,, they will contact me randomly to see if I am available to work certain shows,,, and those shows can be anywhere In The world (sometimes multi day),, at this time in my life I can really only do local one day shows.. but when my kids are older I would definitely do more traveling for pyro

[BMoore]

Every company is a little bit different. The company I shoot for has an annual all day training half of which is classroom and half is out in the field setting up and shooting a small show. If you make yourself available the week of July 4th you will most likely have opportunities to work shows. The problem I run into is that a lot of leads will only use you if you are available the entire weekend of July 4th. I shoot my personal show on the Friday before the 4th and make myself available the rest of the weekend, but even that excludes me from a lot of opportunities.

There honestly isn't much fun involved. It's usually a full day (16+ hours) of hard, manual labor. If it's an electronic show, you do get to enjoy the fruits of your labor while at the same time dreading the tear down. You do get a great deal of satisfaction when you hear the crowd cheering at the end.

I view each opportunity as a training opportunity. Dave's video's give an awesome glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes but there is no substitute for working hands on. I've never worked a show that I didn't learn something new that I can apply to my personal shows.

[Delwely]

Yeah I mean the cheer of the crowd is what it's all about

[Blaster]

Every year training get more and more out of hand. Just recently Atlas, the company I've been shooting for since the 90's (I started out with Zambelli in the 80's), was acquired by Pyrotecnico. Their training is all online. Hours of videos about workplace diversity, bullying, gender rights, how to seal an envelope and properly operate a copier with the lid up :(

Yea, some of it was from industry, some fire extinguisher stuff, some security stuff, but a whole lot of nonsense too!

In the 80's, Zambelli's guys took me to a golf course show and buried a steel 3-4-5-6, touching each other, in two groups in a sand trap. The shells came in assorted sizes in each box and as a loader, I was to fill my cradled forearms with more than a 1/2dz shells of various sizes and load the empty group as fast as I could (the extra was so I would be sure to have enough of all sizes) :D

Sometimes I feel that todays training is no worse than that was...

[Birdman]

Every year training get more and more out of hand. Just recently Atlas, the company I've been shooting for since the 90's (I started out with Zambelli in the 80's), was acquired by Pyrotecnico. Their training is all online. Hours of videos about workplace diversity, bullying, gender rights, how to seal an envelope and properly operate a copier with the lid up :(

As much of a PITA all that nonsense training is it's a sign you're working for a professional company. I would question, in any industry, who I was working for if I didn't have to go through some of the BS training. That's only because if they are playing fast and loose with the small stuff then how professional are they going to be with the stuff that really matters, like my paycheck or other HR matters.

[displayfireworks1]

Every year training get more and more out of hand. Just recently Atlas, the company I've been shooting for since the 90's (I started out with Zambelli in the 80's), was acquired by Pyrotecnico. Their training is all online. Hours of videos about workplace diversity, bullying, gender rights, how to seal an envelope and properly operate a copier with the lid up :(

Yea, some of it was from industry, some fire extinguisher stuff, some security stuff, but a whole lot of nonsense too!

In the 80's, Zambelli's guys took me to a golf course show and buried a steel 3-4-5-6, touching each other, in two groups in a sand trap. The shells came in assorted sizes in each box and as a loader, I was to fill my cradled forearms with more than a 1/2dz shells of various sizes and load the empty group as fast as I could (the extra was so I would be sure to have enough of all sizes) :D

Sometimes I feel that todays training is no worse than that was...

Zambelli did that years back mailing a DVD of training out only they forgot to put the check in the envelope for hour it took to do the training. LOL These Display Company walk a thin line between you being an employee and not an employee. Requiring training records , continuing education etc. sounds like employee requirements. I'm curious on that diversity, bullying etc. training. Were you payed to complete it or did it for free?

[Delwely]

That's pretty stupid but I'll take it over driving 8 hours to New Castle, PA. Aside from the nonsense, I think the online training is a lot better than an in person course as it's extremely convenient for getting the basic ideas in your head, and the the true training will come in those first few shows you do unpayed.

[displayfireworks1]

That's pretty stupid but I'll take it over driving 8 hours to New Castle, PA. Aside from the nonsense, I think the online training is a lot better than an in person course as it's extremely convenient for getting the basic ideas in your head, and the the true training will come in those first few shows you do unpayed.

That working an unpaid first or however many shows is the biggest bunch of BS I every heard a company try. You can at least pay an person a small stipend on the first show to cover food , fuel etc. Some of these cheap ass display companies kill me with that. Some of them wonder why they can't find help or go out of business. I would be willing to bet most of these display companies that go out of business go out not because they can't get shows, it is because they can't find or keep help. Back when George Zambelli (RIP 2003)was around, he made you feel like it was your patriotic duty to get out there and do that July 4th display , the country needed you. Good leadership in a company helps tremendously. Poor leadership and mistrust of financial issues not good. If you are going to get these people to work for free , you better hope they like and respect the leadership.
I guess it could be worse, they could get you to PAY for the training and make you work for free for the first few displays. LOL Come to think of it I believe there is one out there doing that. LOL

[Delwely]

That working an unpaid first or however many shows is the biggest bunch of BS I every heard a company try. You can at least pay an person a small stipend on the first show to cover food , fuel etc. Some of these cheap ass display companies kill me with that. Some of them wonder why they can't find help or go out of business. I would be willing to bet most of these display companies that go out of business go out not because they can't get shows, it is because they can't find or keep help. Back when George Zambelli (RIP 2003)was around, he made you feel like it was your patriotic duty to get out there and do that July 4th display , the country needed you. Good leadership in a company helps tremendously. Poor leadership and mistrust of financial issues not good. If you are going to get these people to work for free , you better hope they like and respect the leadership.
I guess it could be worse, they could get you to PAY for the training and make you work for free for the first few displays. LOL Come to think of it I believe there is one out there doing that. LOL
I think they know young guys like me are just dying to get on a show and don't even care about making anything the first time or two, but after that I'll definitely need to start making something. If I can start out on my town's show that'd be great since I'm literally 7 minutes from the shoot site, I definitely wouldn't be so willing to travel hours To a show and back and make nothing.

[BMoore]

There is no way I'd do it for free. Money isn't my motivation, but these are for-profit display companies, not charitable organizations doing volunteer work. They are making money and if you aren't, then you are being taken advantage of, plain and simple. Now some shoots just barely cover gas, mileage, etc., but it's something. If someone is telling you to shoot contracted displays for free as part of your training, that is pure B.S. Training takes place in a closed environment under very close supervision and instruction, not out in the field racing the clock to set up a show.

[Delwely]

Ok thanks for the advice

[Blaster]

As much of a PITA all that nonsense training is it's a sign you're working for a professional company. I would question, in any industry, who I was working for if I didn't have to go through some of the BS training. That's only because if they are playing fast and loose with the small stuff then how professional are they going to be with the stuff that really matters, like my paycheck or other HR matters.

Well, no,,, I've gone to decades of Training and we All Know much of it is just BS that the company needs to do to satisfy the "gov letter guys" (OSHA-HS-ATF-ect.). Over the years I've had several dz crew members come & go, all had to attend training. Not Once, at Any time, did I have anybody ask "Where can I find the STS (MSDS) on this item?'. Yet, for training purposes, we all had to know the person who kept them at the head office and that fact that they were in his file cabinet there :D What nonsense, we knew it, they knew it, just the hoops you have to jump thru to keep OSHA happy (we're all aware of the risk). It's a big game, we're all adults, we just deal with it.

But, as a display operator, I bring a cew to a site, we setup & fire, then tear down. No copiers, no envelopes, no thoughts about how our tweets might be perceived as hurtful (we're not "twits" anyway). It's INSULTING to be asked to participate in this nonsense, if anybody needs HR it's US for having to deal with this Hostile Work Environment that's unnecessarily forced on us for no good reason other than the, incompetent way, it gets applied across the board.

For Me, the biggest impact is that to, my already resistant crew, to putting up with the previous BS in training, this has become Overwhelming Nonsense because of the Extra burden it's become with the concentration on HR issues surrounding hurt feelings :(

We're in the field, just let us shoot the show...

And PAID??? For Training??? No, never heard of anybody doing that!

[Delwely]

How much of a heads up do you usually get for a show? A few weeks? A month? A few months?

[Engineer Cat]

How much of a heads up do you usually get for a show? A few weeks? A month? A few months?

You should join a club. Northern Lights Pyrotechnics Club is up in your neck of the woods.