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STEAMBOAT Springs, Colorado, was briefly home to the world’s largest firework on 8 February. Weighing around 1270 kilograms, roughly the same as a small car, the 150-centimetre shell travelled at more than 480 kilometres per hour from a steel tube embedded in the nearby Emerald mountain.

The firework rose around 670 metres into the air before exploding, painting the night sky a vivid red and showering spectators with sparks. An attendee from Guinness World Records confirmed the new record. It had previously been held by a 1080 kilogram shell.

The four-person team behind the firework was led by Tim Borden, a local fireworks enthusiast. The group has been building progressively larger fireworks for seven years in an effort to beat the world record. It took the team a month to create the firework’s sturdy shell casing out of more than 1600 metres of packing tape.