Blast Master : Family’s Pyrotechnics Firm Gains Worldwide Acclaim for Staging Fireworks Shows

James R. Souza wasn’t born on the Fourth of July, but one might say he was born for the holiday.

On this Independence Day, Souza’s Rialto company, Pyro Spectaculars, will be staging about 400 fireworks shows throughout California, including blasts at the Rose Bowl and Dodger Stadium.

It’s the busiest day of the year for the 44-year-old conductor of combustion, whose family has been staging fireworks shows for four generations in California.

Manuel DeSousa, Jim Souza’s immigrant great-grandfather, began the family trade and tradition when he lit up the skies at San Francisco Portuguese fiestas around the turn of the century.

But this summer, Souza’s annual extravaganzas will be a preview to his magnum opus, the fireworks at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

“It’ll be our most sophisticated production ever,” Souza said of the Atlanta show.

That’s a bold promise, coming from someone who has put together the fireworks programs for the Statue of Liberty’s 100th anniversary as well as the closing ceremony at the 1984 Olympics in the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Unlike the 1984 Olympic fireworks show, which followed the closing program, fireworks will be integrated throughout the Atlanta ceremonies, with showers of sparks flowing over performers on stage and giant red, white, blue, green and gold Olympic rings flaming in the sky.

Along with preparations for the Fourth, Souza and his workers this week are filling up six semi-trucks with explosive goodies bound for Atlanta.

Though Pyro Spectaculars has done the Olympics before, being picked for the Atlanta Games is further evidence of the company’s standing as one of the best in the nation. “To even be selected for Atlanta is a great honor. In 1984 we were the local guys, but we didn’t have that [advantage] this time.”

Souza’s stellar reputation is well-deserved, said former Pasadena Mayor Rick Cole, who credits Souza with helping to revive the Rose Bowl shows after sagging attendance in the early 1980s. “He is by far the impresario [of fireworks],” Cole said.

More and more countries are also inviting the company to add sparkle to their biggest events. Souza has provided fireworks for the Lunar New Year show in Hong Kong Harbor that typically draws 1 million spectators, Souza said. His company has also fired up celebrations of Jerusalem’s 3,000th year, Korea’s 50th anniversary of independence from Japan, and staged shows in France and Germany.

Despite its prominence, Souza’s company still does fireworks shows at high school homecomings and other small events. “We don’t make much from those,” Souza said. “They’re something we do to give back to the communities.”

The Souzas moved to Southern California from San Francisco in 1970, when work for Disney made up a large share of their business. The company employs 75 full-time workers and uses 1,500 to 2,000 licensed contractors to put on individual shows throughout the year.

Souza now uses electronic switches to launch his fireworks. His father, who lit shells by hand, lost the use of two fingers in an accidental blast that also took the hand of a partner.

But that tragedy didn’t scare Souza away from the family business. When he finished college with a business administration degree, Souza worked in San Francisco for Bechtel, the giant engineering company.

But a year of the office grind convinced him he’d rather be setting off fireworks, which he considers an art form.

As maestros with mortars, the Souza family has highlighted Independence Day for millions of Americans, perhaps most visibly in 1976, when their fireworks shows were used in many of the largest Bicentennial celebrations across the country.

Jim Souza’s love of the holiday also comes from the contributions of another descendant of Portuguese immigrants. “The patriotic music is a special part of the Fourth,” he said. “The music of John Philip Sousa, of course.”