to think Chinese Lanterns should be banned

[Bimbledorf]

dangerous

As beautiful as they are, Chinese Lanterns are the cause of many fires every year; today they are the cause of the above... Why are we still allowed to use them?

[TheBigJessie]

blahblah Recycle, bin, use as evidence of how their sale needs to be regulated in a letter to your MP?

[blahblahblah2014]

So what should i do with teh pack of 5 I just bought from the pound shop.......mmmmmmm

[MakingEveryDayCount]

I know it's a zombie thread too before anyone points it out, but just wanted to say I've never seen the appeal of them either as they've always struck me as being highly dangerous.
The first time I had heard of them was when a friend set one off for her wedding, and even though it was the first time I'd known about then I; was still as to on what planet the person who was on who originally dreamt the idea up!
Setting a candle alight and sending it off to drift in a paper lantern?! Yes, can't see that going wrong! (sarcastic)
You've no control over them once you've let go, and no idea where they'll come down.
Moronic in my opinion.

[littlecrystal]

Lifting a zombie thread but just wanted to say honestly I did not know about the danger of sky lanterns before reading this thread. I just thought they will finish burning up high in the sky and dissapear to ash.
I never knew that it falls to the ground still burning and can set a fire.

Thanks for pointing out before I bought it for use.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

aha!! that makes a lot of sense!!!

[MadeOfStarDust]

The solar powered ones are ones you hang up in a tree or in a garden - they do not float off.....

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I've had a quick glance to see how else balloons can be lifted without heat or helium. The safest gas seems to be ammonia (has been used to lift weather balloons) but I dont know how practical it would be for inflating childrens balloons and once it absorbs moisture apparently the result can be quite corrosive (not a chemist!)

[RubberBullets]

I've got a rose called remember me in my garden for my grandad. It's the same type as he has at the crem.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

How would/do solar powered ones work?

[BlessedDespair]

I don't think they should be banned but I do think that the solar powered ones should be the only ones available so you couldn't send them flying off to land in my horses field :)

[Eyesunderarock]

Choose the right rose and it will flower from late May until October with a lovely scent. They also have individual names, come in almost every colour and last for years.
So roses make sense to me.

[Latara]

YANBU. One floated down in front of my Mum's car when she was driving and nearly made her crash.

Also people set light to them on the beach near me and the clifftop caught fire (the gorse is very flammable).

[HorryIsUpduffed]

Paper boats on a quiet river sounds beautiful. The main advantage there is that if they go wrong they'll quickly put themselves out.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Where does helium come from then?

Off to Google.

[LePetitPrince]

I was at a child's party (no joke) when these were released and my DH and I spent the night wondering how they were extinguished. We wondered if they go out at a certain altitude.. This was in a built-up area too.

Planting a rose bush gets my vote too but possibly not as obvious as a memorial. Condolences to all who are suffering bereavement.

[Eyesunderarock]

This sort of stuff doesn't help with raising awareness of the dangers either:

Decades ago, we remembered the death of a fellow student by floating little paper boats with birthday candles on the river Cherwell. It helped a lot of us, I can see the appeal.

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

Amy Farrah and Lunatic Fringe thank you for your replies

Interesting to hear on the radio this morning that Spain have banned lanterns.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I bet locals are nodding and saying I told you so!

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

All that burning plastic at the recycling plant (on the news again now), no mention of the dioxins etc produced by burning plastic in open fires! Incredibly toxic, I wonder what sort of measures the plant had in place to reduce the risk of fire spreading (fire walls etc), as if seems to have burnt right through the whole site which looks like its acres in size, really huge.

[AmyFarrahFowlerCooper]

middle, I'm sure that is true. I was just pointing out to the couple of ignorant people on here that its not hard to "get" why people use them to help them with their grief. For example, I think they should be banned as they are dangerous, but I still "get" why people want to use them. It would take a stupid person not to understand why people use them for comfort was my point.

[edam]

A couple of years ago I had to look into this for work. At that time, the fire service wouldn't say definitively that they were unsafe, nor the HSE, nor government statisticians - there were no records of them causing serious accidents. I was a bit sceptical because releasing a naked flame into the sky to come down heaven knows where seemed inherently dangerous... now it turns out it was indeed dangerous and has caused fires.

People who have released them to commemorate loved ones were clearly acting out of the best motives, but now we can see it really is dangerous. So we should stop doing it. And balloon releases too.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Ban the bloody things.