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This Year's NYE Fireworks Bigger And Better In Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) --- We are just 24 hours away from the start of the annual New Year's Eve celebration in Baltimore and the fireworks are expected to be bigger and better this year. Rochelle Ritchie has details on what people can expect.

This year, Image Engineering, which is based in Baltimore, will use more fireworks to light up the downtown sky as we welcome the year 2015.

It's almost time to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to a new year and the engineers with image engineering are making sure to bring it in with a bang.

"So you got 10, 20.. the shells are loaded," one worker said.

"You've got two two two and two, remember," another worker said.

The fuses are connected.

"When we are all done, we are going to catch each connection," lead technician, Nick Hock said.

And the key to launch Baltimore's New Year's Eve Spectacular is in the hands of Hock.

"We have GPS and time codes on these boxes so at midnight this box knows I am suppose to go and launch the fireworks to bring the fireworks into Baltimore," Hock said.

Rochelle: "Right now if you put that key in there and I hit five, my lucky number, we would have problems?

"New Year's Eve would be starting early," Hock said.

Since this summer, image engineering has been signing a show to make this New Year's Eve at the Inner Harbor bigger and better.

"We always have something a little different," said. "This is Image Engineering's second time doing the show so they always have little surprised in there so people aren't seeing the same thing year after year."

The process of coming up with a fireworks show intricate and tedious, sort of like an engineer painting the sky.

"This barge is holding more than 5,000 fireworks and Wednesday night when the fuse is lit, the shells will shoot out of these pipes at 300 miles per hour.

Hock would not give me all the details as to what's in store, but says there will be some purple pride over Baltimore.

Rochelle: The Ravens just went to the playoffs so I hope one of these shells is a Raven?

"These are quite a few shells and yes, some of them are purple," Hock said.

The cost to pull all this on is less than $100,000.

New Year's Eve Spectacular coverage begins at 11 p.m. on WJZ.

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