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?

One landed on a tent at a festival I was at this year.

It's in the first paragraph of the article

'A huge fire in the West Midlands ? which has resulted in nine firefighters being treated for injuries and a smoke plume reaching 6,000 feet ? was caused by a Chinese lantern, the fire service said.'

It's also in the sub-headline, Eyes.

I have never understood why they are allowed. They go up. They are on fire. They have to come down somewhere...

'Blaze involving 50,000 tonnes of paper and plastic at recycling plant was caused by Chinese lantern, fire service says'

Not sure what people are reading?!? This quote is in the article the op posted, clearly mentioning Chinese lanterns!

It's been updated. Look at the time on the last update and look at the time on the OP!

It's time they were banned. A small child in our area suffered facial burns from one a year or two back. He looked up to watch as they took off and molten wax fell onto his face.

Agree they should be banned.

I think the majority of people that use them nowadays are aware of the dangers, but selfishly choose to use them anyway because they look pretty and they like the mystical idea of them floating away carrying some special message.

That makes more sense.

OP must have known more about the origin then, to post that link before it had been stated to be CL induced.
Yes they should be banned.

They have updated the article since I posted - it didn't say it when I posted it to be fair, I heard it on the BBC news in the background and was reading the Guardian at the same time so that's why I linked.

I don't care what your 'special anniversary' is - you shouldn't be lighting them.

I think they should be banned too, just far too dangerous.

Yanbu. Theyre dangerous for all the reasons listed by previous posters. And they look naff. I think the reason people still have them at weddings is mostly due to the 'but its our special day' bollocks.

I was at a wedding last year where they had the things. This was less than six months after our whole neighborhood had to be evacuated because of a massive wildfire, and we were under a burn ban at the time. I was horrified.

That said, I do have a box of the things. I put little LED tea lights in them and hang them from the trees for special occasions.

They're quite sad really. I came across one in a field while walking the dog, with all these messages to a dead friend/relative written on it. I'm sure it looked very pretty and mystical while it was floating off into the night sky, but the reality is that it ends up as trampled rubbish somewhere.

One landed in our garden, burnt a patch of grass and then the dog got hold of it. Ridiculous things to be set off, in the countryside and in towns (I love in London). Think it came from a local hotel which hosts loads of weddings......

YANBU

This fire in Smethwick is horrendous (although the cause is not yet proven it does seem as though it is the case). The pollution and cost to the fire fighters dealing with it! Awful.

Totally agree. They are dangerous to buildings, livestock and wildlife. They cause wildfires. Ban the damned things.
I was at a wedding once. They let them off at the reception. Apart from more than one person nearly getting burned, one landed in an open top convertible in the car park! Seriously not funny!

Sorry l live in London (not love - well only sometimes ;)) oh yes and the one we found had loads of messages to the happy couple Piers and Jasmine........

Agree - should be banned, dangerous and stupid

YANBU. We got some the other year and one of them flew off sideways instead of up and started dripping boiling hot wax over the garden. My husband had to run after it and pull it down or it would have dripped over all my neighbours gardens and would have burnt anyone under it!! Never again.

I think the reason people still have them at weddings is mostly due to the 'but its our special day' bollocks.

Well, 9 firefighters were injured because of this particular "special day". If the cause was indeed one of these lanterns, I hope the people who let off lanterns that night think it was worth it.

I don't understand why it's allowed - isn't letting things fly off like that just basic littering? Same as balloon releases - horribly dangerous to wildlife and they don't decompose either.