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?

[MalenkyRusskyDrakonchik]

I'm sure no-one wants to put someone else's child or partner in danger.

[expatinscotland]

I lit one about 4 years ago and it scared me so much I binned the rest.

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

would it have the same symbolism if they were tethered with a string so they can't float away? if not I suppose a small fire into which you put a paper with your message to lost one on and watched that burn a float into the air might work? or just floating a message away on a flower on a river or sea?

[MalenkyRusskyDrakonchik]

It ought to be possible to design tiny ones so that they can be tethered, and the fuel burns out at about the same time they reach the highest point on the string.

If they were banned maybe there'd be a motivation for the makers to make something safer instead.

[specialsubject]

light memorial candles by all means. Ones that stay on the windowsill where you put them, or wherever.

littering as an act of remembrance is beyond me.

[IWillDoItInAMinute]

YANBU when my DM died, my closest friend suggested I light a Chinese lantern to remember her
I thought the broken heart, tear stained face and huge hole in my life was enough...or is it just me who doesn't 'get it'?

[MalenkyRusskyDrakonchik]

People vary how they want to grieve, though, iwill.

[EduCated]

I do think they are beautiful and they're so readily available I think it would be reasonably easy to jump to the conclusion that they must be fine.

However they are clearly not safe and something needs to be done about that. It's a shame it's taken such a large scale accident to really raise the issue, but at least now, hopefully, something will be done.

[Tigerbomb]

I lit one on NY eve for my DXH. Unfortunately it clipped a tree a few seconds after it went up and came down on a neighbours shed roof 3 gardens up, setting it on fire.

Never again

[AnnaBegins]

Some neighbours brought these to my 21st birthday party and despite me telling them they were dangerous and that I didn't want them lit they lit them anyway. At my party! I was too embarrassed and shy to kick up more of a fuss and it still annoys me. No one else wanted to listen to me either, just oohed and ahhed at the pretty fire balls

[Weegiemum]

I fell out with a (then) local pregnancy loss charity about 15 years ago after my 2nd mc (before any of my living dc were born). I objected to a balloon release - apparently it meant I "didnt care".

[alistron1]

It's a shame that they are lethal 'cos they are very beautiful. And I had immense comedy value from a little fleet of them once when DP thought it was an alien invasion.

[LittleSporksBigSpork]

The old Chinese lanterns on a ribbon are just as pretty and last a lot longer than the dangerous Sky lanterns.

[McNewPants2013]

www.chineselanterns.co.uk/chinese-sky-lanterns-safety.html

Sky Lanterns will fly for up to 20 minutes and can reach up to 1 mile high
Keep a fire extinguisher or bucket of water nearby.

unless you have superhuman power and can fly, how are you suppose to have a fire extinguisher or bucket of water nearby when the latern is 1 mile high.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

The wrappers from amaretti biscuits burn beautifully but do so within about ten seconds and eighteen inches of ignition, floating ethereally above the table. Candles are also good for meditation.

If one stops to think, of course sending a burning thing to fly off into the air is dangerous. But one typically doesn't think - the mental image is of that heart-rending scene in Tangled, not dead wildlife.

Let's keep talking and objecting to all lantern and balloon releases that are suggested to us.

[Northernlurker]

Oh Lord!

The problem with the lanterns is you can't guard against the consequences and yes I agree those consequences can be awful. That's a reason to ban these for the future, not attack people who've done this in the past. MrsDV is absolutely right - this thread is heaving with self righteous indignation and there will be people reading it who don't have the confidence to post. People who have taken comfort from doing this at awful times in their lives. I don't think anybody here really wants to make those people feel crap do they?
Everybody will grieve differently, things that comfort some will leave others cold but what everybody's grief has in common is the shattering impact on lives and the love that's left behind. I think those two things should always be respected and when you reduce a person's actions to 'dangerous littering' then you aren't respecting that at all. Now that's a crappy thing to do!

[MrsMeg]

I agree that they are very beautiful but the potential for damage and loss of life is just too high I think.

I know it's unrelated but 19 firefighters died today in Arizona due to wildfires, we don't yet know the cause of course but it could do easily have been a lantern.

[MrsMeg]

On a different note - I heard recently that the world is running out of Helium, so balloon releases will be ruled out soon I think?

[Methe]

I drove smethwick this morning on my way to work and the plume was HUGE!

Lanterns did ought to be banned and I say that as someone who has set them off before.. In memorial.. Before I realised how dangerous they are.

If you learn something is dangerous you have to stop doing it.. Whatever it signifies.

[Kiriwawa]

I didn't know how awful they were until they nearly burned down my sister's stable with her horses inside.

Which is why I smiled and thanked my friend who gave me one rather than telling her she is a terrible and selfish person.

[YoungBritishPissArtist]

OK, I feel really thick. I thought Chinese lanterns were these.

Now I've read this thread I won't use them and will warn others.

[MalenkyRusskyDrakonchik]

I think it's a generic term for lots of kinds of paper lantern supported by wire? Those are what I would think of as chinese lantern shades too.