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Macy's Gets Ready For 4th Of July Fireworks Show

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Macy's is getting the fireworks ready for the big 4th of July show.

Dozens of fireworks technicians have started wiring mortars and shells on three barges, but executive producer Amy Kuhl said the star of this year's show will be the Brooklyn Bridge.

Macy's Gets Ready For 4th Of July Fireworks Show

"We are going to use the bridge essentially as our fourth barge," Kuhl said. "Between tower to tower, we are going to detonate about 50,000 pounds of fireworks in total."

Macy's Gets Ready For 4th Of July Fireworks Show

Special firing platforms will be set up along the span, which will have five miles of wire to set off the fireworks on cue.

"Things are going to burst up in the air and fall from the bridge itself," Kuhl said.

Show designer Gary Souza has spent almost two years designing special fireworks and fine-turning the computerized timing to make sure everything bursts in mid-air to the exact beat of the music.

"We time how long it takes for every effect to leave the ground, how high it goes, the colors, how long it bursts and stays in the air," Souza said.

The theme for this year's show is the 200th anniversary of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

"We're going to take that opportunity to create a flag off of the bridge and sending red and white cascade stripes along from the roadway down towards the water with swirling blue stars above that and blue shells bursting high," Souza said.

The East River is more narrow than the Hudson so Souza said the show will have less altitude.

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