New Year's Eve celebrations about to kick off across Australia

As the clock strikes midnight, fireworks displays will light up the skies across Australia, bringing joy and excitement to millions of people. Howard and Sons Pyrotechnics Andrew Howard joined Sky News Australia to discuss a bit about what happens behind the scenes to prepare for the big night. “It's really an all-year-round process, working with event organisers all year round, really," Mr Howard said. “There's a lot of crowd control issues that we need to all work together with in relation with shoring, vantage points, safety areas, exclusion zones, all the permits, logistics, manufacturing products, getting all the equipment together. “Everything's all computer programmed and fired with high-end computer equipment. All of that takes a long time to program or the product takes a long time to manufacture and package and then logistics, delivering it door to door from our factory to each site around Australia.” Mr Andrew went on to emphasise the dangers of fireworks, citing a recent incident in Melbourne where someone was injured while handling illegal fireworks. He stressed that fireworks are fatal and should only be handled by professionals.