ORLANDO, Fla. — Even though the official Fourth of July holiday is still a day away, local municipalities have already begun their festivities.
Longwood held its Fourth of July Celebration this past weekend.
Wednesday is Altamonte Springs’ annual Red Hot & Boom at Cranes Roost Park, where about 15,000 fireworks will go off.
Temperatures around 5 p.m., when the event gets underway, will be in the 90s and feel like 100-plus degrees with humidity.
As for the main attraction, the fireworks will go off at 9:30 p.m., rain or shine, officials said.
The fireworks show will last for 25 minutes and produce on average of 10 fireworks per second for 25 straight minutes of sound.
Traffic will also be an issue, and the city is hoping to help drivers. With tens of thousands of vehicles expecting to be on hand and through the Altamonte Global Innovation Lab, the city has formed a partnership with Causeway to upload all of its road closures for Red Hot & Boom into your map programs on your phone or in your car.
All of the event closures are uploaded to Google Maps, Waze, and other online map programs. When roads start to close for the event, drivers who plan to go through Altamonte Springs can input their destination, and if they are using the map programs typical for Apple or Android phones, then they should be routed around roads that are closed for the event.
As for people and the heat, City Manager Franklin Martz said plenty of help will be on hand.
“Heat is always an issue, so we work with the Seminole County Fire Department and the Department of Health to ensure we have booths, tents and plenty of staff to address any heat-related issue,” Martz explained. “If you feel like a heat-related response is happening, then find someone from EMT, law enforcement or the fire department to get you the help that you need.”
Bands that will perform before the fireworks show began doing soundchecks shortly before noon, and all the bands performing are local.
This is the second year in a row that Red Hot & Boom was named one of the nine fireworks shows that Floridians should see, according to Onlyinourstate.com.