Shoot with a rhythm, with a choreography, the nearly 275 kilos of gunpowder allowed in the mascletas de Fallas is like an art in Valencia. The pyrotechnicians call it the symphony of noise and it is repeated every day at two in the afternoon in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in the Valencian capital on the first 19 days of March. This is how the Valencians receive spring, with a bang. There are soft or forceful beginnings, which gradually increase in intensity until the earthquake and the most extreme end, when the noise reaches its climax, and it seems that the eardrums are going to explode. Depending on their sophistication, the workshops begin at dawn to put on a sound show that causes as much emotion among many Valencians as it surprises and bewilders those who witness it for the first time.
Fallas pyrotechnics is an industry that moves millions of euros —although since 2019 they have lived a true desert journey. There are the great fireworks displays –mascletaes, fireworks, pyromusical castles…— and then there are the shops where you buy the firecrackers that young and old set fire to in designated places in each neighborhood. But the firecrackers, thunder, mascletseither trio of bacsThey are made with explosive material, they are not a toy, and certain precautions must be taken, explains Samuel Albiñana, manager of the La Petardería de Ruzafa chain. He opened the chain in 2004 but they have been selling bombs, firecrackers, firecrackers, colored fountains, fuses and flares since 1989. On March 2, with the party at half throttle, he attends an inspection by the Civil Guard.
Two specialized weapons intervention agents enter the premises to verify that only the categories allowed by law are on its shelves. They check that the colorful boxes have the CE mark, that the business has government authorization, and check the security of the warehouse or bunker, where a maximum of 150 kilos of pyrotechnic products are stored.
“The vast majority of times there are usually no problems,” admits the civil guard in charge of the inspection. And if they do occur, they are usually due to incorrect labeling or because the capacity of people who can be inside the store is exceeded, about eight people in total, between vendors and customers.
The armed institute makes some 200 inspections in Fallas: to the retail businesses and they review the fireworks shows organized in the neighborhoods. The bunker of this business has a magnetic contact at the entrance, a movement detector and some barnacles or seismic detectors attached to the walls that, in the event of any vibration or attempted intrusion, triggers the alarm connected to an alarm center. The nearest patrol would go to check the incident.
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Paula and Angelita, store clerks, believe that this year will be the definitive takeoff because the pandemic cut the party short and they list the range of products they have this year: helicopters, poopy dogs, kryptonite, wasps, cobras, pirates. .. The best sellers are the small ones, confirms Albiñana. The average cost of fireworks per family during the Fallas festivities is 45 euros, according to the Spanish association of these shops. They bill close to seven million euros and hire a thousand people.
In two weeks they invoice 90% of the year, but what do they live on afterwards? “We hibernate like bears,” jokes the store manager. But no, they do not hibernate, they live on weddings, baptisms, communions, parties, where it is tradition to throw firecrackers. “Well, and when Valencia CF win games”, adds Angelita.
But the main fireworks show in Valencia fallera is the mascleta, which is fired in a large cage located in the center of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Civil Guard Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Jesús Rodríguez, responsible for Arms Intervention in the Valencian Community, explains that the maximum load is calculated based on the space where the shot is fired. In the case of Valencia, the limit would be about 275 net kilos, with a 10% margin. He explains it a few meters from where the operators of the Dragon Pyrotechnics, in Villena, —responsible for the event on March 2— place sandbags so that the cannons do not move when the powerful charge comes out.
The agents control the entire process of the explosive material, from manufacturing to firing. “We control from the transport itself, the qualification of drivers for dangerous goods, containers and packaging, the launch areas, where the Local Police is the one that controls access. There is a security perimeter that the public cannot invade. The control is very strong, ”says the high police command. “Safety is paramount, that everything is fine,” Rodríguez concludes.
Massive Fallas
Valencia began its most massive festivities this Wednesday, whose big days will fall on a weekend this year. There will be no restrictions, as in the previous three years (in 2020 they were suspended) due to the coronavirus pandemic. The machinery fallera incorporates some novelties this year. For example, the recommendation —not a prohibition— of not throwing firecrackers from three to five in the afternoon to facilitate rest and walks down the street for pets, which are highly affected by noise, is released. The fireworks change from the old bed of the Turia, to the Palau de les Arts; and the Fallas macro-concerts return to the Paseo de la Alameda on March 10 and 11.
The city expects a flood of visitors because March 18 and 19 fall on a weekend and March 20 is a holiday in other communities such as Madrid. “There will not be one city on the street, but two”, very graphically described the Councilor for Citizen Protection, Aarón Cano, in the presentation of this year’s Security device, made up of 3,000 local police officers, 400 municipal firefighters, and 1,800 national police.
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