World-beating view of world’s best fireworks from atop the Opera House
As the world tunes in to watch the planet’s most spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks display, Dean Jakubowski will be perched atop the main sail of the Sydney Opera House surrounded by about 600kg of explosives.
While an estimated one million people flock to Sydney Harbour to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks, Dean Jakubowski will be perched atop the main sail of the Sydney Opera House surrounded by almost 600kg of explosives.
As the building operations manager, he oversees the cleaning and maintaining of the landmark. Every few years, he and a team abseil the sails to “tap test” more than one million tiles to make sure they are in no danger of falling off. But one of the annual highlights of his job is installing end-of-year pyrotechnics on the building, and ensuring they go off without a hitch as a global audience of about one billion people tune in on TV.
“It’s the most amazing experience, like the world is sort of exploding around you,” said the 46-year-old, a carpenter by trade who took the role in 2006 after spending a few years in London fitting out new branches of Carphone Warehouse. “To be able to climb on the sails and set off firecrackers is one of the best jobs in the world,” he said.
Mr Jakubowski and his team do not light the fuses because the fireworks are automated and timed to precision. On Friday, they began gently hauling 32 boxes containing 830 rockets up the side of the building using rigging and ropes, before putting them in position.
They will get to the top through a network of tunnels, ladders and hatches, working with a crew from Foti, a Sydney fireworks company.
The fireworks technicians will set up the control boxes on the sails, synchronising them with the fireworks on the bridge, floating platforms and the tops of buildings running for more than 6km along the waterfront.
On New Year’s Eve, the waterproof covers are taken off and final checks made. “Once the show starts, our main role when we’re sitting on top of the sails is to ensure that all the fireworks go off, that everything is safe and that the show goes to plan,” Mr Jakubowski said.
Established in 1976, the display has arguably surpassed other more established shows, such as the one in New York’s Times Square, to become the most watched in the world. This is largely a question of timing. As well as boasting a stunning harbour backdrop, Sydney is the first big city to ring in the new year.
For the display, Mr Jakubowski will be at the building’s highest point on its biggest sail, “A2”, 68m above sea level. The building’s tiles, a mixture of gloss white and matte beige, were designed to be self-cleaning, washed by the rain and wind. The result is that the sails look a dazzling white in the sunshine, and appear a bit more beige on overcast days.
“Every day it looks absolutely different. It’s one of the most spectacular things about the building,” Mr Jakubowski said.
The Sunday Times
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