Firework ban?

Final warning: Behave or face fireworks ban
Tuesday October 17, 2006
By Elizabeth Binning


New Zealanders are being given one last chance to prove they can be responsible with fireworks. If they fail the test, steps will be taken next year to restrict sales - a move that could eventually lead to a complete ban.

The Government says it is not prepared to accept another Guy Fawkes Day like last year's, which kept emergency service workers busy attending to hundreds of fires and injuries.

Environment Minister David Benson-Pope says he is not quite ready to ban the general sale of fireworks. But he is issuing a final warning in the week before fireworks go on sale. He is sending a letter to retailers asking them to emphasise safety messages and be more responsible in how they sell fireworks.

And a safety campaign will push the message "Let's make 2006 the safest Guy Fawkes ever" on a website and through pamphlets and flyers. This campaign, which starts tomorrow, is a joint project by the Fire Service, the police and the Environmental Risk Management Authority.

Fire Service spokesman Iain Butler said the aim was to encourage people to attend public displays instead of buying their own fireworks. But people who did buy them were urged to be careful and follow safety measures listed on the website www.guyfawkes2006.govt.nz.

Police and firefighters said last year's Guy Fawkes Day - when 1700 tonnes of fireworks were detonated - was the worst in 10 years. During the 10 days fireworks were on sale, firefighters attended more than 700 firework-related incidents, a 70 per cent increase on 2004. In the same time, police attended nearly 1200 incidents, nearly a quarter of which involved disorderly behaviour, bombs alarms and property damage.

The SPCA also received calls about distressed or injured animals, including a young cat found lying on a road where it had been hit by a car after being burned by fireworks.

Mr Benson-Pope said part of the rise in firework-related incidents last year could be attributed to a 40 per cent increase in the quantity of fireworks imported compared with 2004. If there were more problems this year, the Government would be forced to take action.

"The Government is under increasing public pressure to consider new regulations to better control the use of fireworks," he says in his letter to retailers. A repeat of the scale of serious incidents shown last year will influence how severe the restrictions on the retail sale of fireworks for 2007 will be."

Mr Benson-Pope told the Herald options included reducing the sale period, raising the age limit for buying fireworks or restricting the quantity or types of fireworks imported. If those restrictions failed, the eventual outcome would be a ban.

"I don't want to restrict people's freedom," Mr Benson-Pope said. "Fireworks used safely don't do anyone any harm, but safety and consideration weren't displayed last year and we are talking about materials that are hazardous. I think it's inevitable that if there is a repetition of the stupid behaviour we saw last year, the Cabinet will support my suggestion that we do take some steps."

Some groups believe fireworks should be banned immediately. SPCA chief executive Bob Kerridge said the organisation wanted an immediate ban. The education campaign and warnings to be responsible were merely delaying the inevitable, he said.

"It's no use the Government saying 'we'll educate everybody so they'll understand and be more careful'. Yeah right.  It was this year we really wanted to see some action. We have to live with the campaign, so let's hope people may respond and may learn but it's a big hope, a big ask."

Banning fireworks for the public isn't such a bad idea. Folks will gripe, but explosives are dangerous toys. Although laws differ in different states, California allows the public sale of only the wimpiest fireworks. Not that people don't go to Nevada to buy firecrackers & bottle rockets to bring back. But it does keep down the use of dangerous fireworks.

Another notion could be to charge a tax on fireworks that would help defray costs related to emergency response. If they made the tax hefty enough, people might not buy so many. I know Wellington put on a great show that made me wonder why people spent more money on personal fireworks.

In the meantime, water your lawns and hose down your roof on Guy Fawkes Day. ...And get the pets inside early.

Yep ... I am definitely in favour of banning fireworks.

Last year we were nearly injured letting off a dud firework which headed straight for us, forcing us to throw ourselves to the ground. There are so many cheaply and poorly made fireworks for sale here.

Now fireworks are on sale and don't we know it! >:( Last night a car squealed up to our mailbox, a large firework was put in it and lit. I was lying in bed with a slight headache and I knew exactly what the noise was when I heard it, as on the tv news earlier it was reported that some idiots last year put fireworks into mailboxes. When I heard that I thought "yeah, now you've given an idea to some cerebrally-challanged hoon". How right I was! They squealed off laughing and probably found other mailboxes to get their kicks as the noises continued.

Now, to you folks in the UK who are not used to the NZ mailbox system - the mailbox is a wooden or metal box on posts at the end of the driveway and not (thank goodness!) like a letterbox in the front door!

They probably chose our letterbox as it is one of the few wooden ones along the road - perhaps they wanted it to catch alight or something. Anyhow, apart from a small scorch mark they failed in damaging it. Idiots.

Must be idiot season, Glenda. ?Not fireworks for us but shotgun pellets. ?

Heard the sound of gunfire (not the 'serious' kind of gunfire, just a loud popping) yesterday and suddenly heard something that we felt had affected the house. ?We had a casual look around to see if anything had fallen off the walls or similar that could have made the noise, but couldn't see anything.

Went into our lounge today and spotted 2 'bullet' holes in the window glass along with several huge cracks. ?We didn't use that room yesterday, so hadn't noticed it until I went in there today.

Suspect it was kids or youths, but thank goodness we weren't sitting in there when it happened as one of the setees is under that window. ?Splinters of glass everywhere. ? ::) ?Usually during the Eid holiday in the Arab countries, they let off fireworks, but haven't heard any here so perhaps they're banned. ?Was just thinking how nice it was not to have to worry about them (I hate them apart from organised displays) and then this happens. ?They must have used guns to create mischief instead of fireworks.

Blimey!

I know some Middle Eastern countries get carried away with shooting - one sees them on tv usually shooting up in the air - but that is just a bit too scary!

I know in the US (especially in LA) that the occasional window with a bullet hole can be found, perhaps that is the case in the ME.

Do hope it hasn't rattled you too much.

Hubster has reported the matter to the landlady, who's reporting it to one of her brothers (she doesn't seem capable of making decisions without advice from one of them), so we'll see whether the police get involved or not.

I've been trying to find evidence of a missile but, apart from shards of glass, I can't see one. ?There's one hole that I could easily slip my little finger through and another point of impact that has only shattered. ?

We were in the kitchen at the time and the lounge door was shut so we hadn't realised how serious the matter was when we heard the noise. ?Pity we hadn't shot outside to see who'd done it, as they would have been standing on the waste ground at the side of the house. ?I trust it was a random hit and not premeditated (you can't always tell in these parts ? :-/ ), but it has shaken me up. ?Goodness knows how I'd have felt if we'd been in that room when it happened. ?

The gun culture isn't too bad here compared to Kuwait where we were forever dodging flying tracer bullets as the locals let loose at traffic lights or whilst driving along. ?It was like the Wild West, especially during celebrations and weddings. We could often see the bullets at night, tracking across the sky as the bullets glow like a stream of red dashes. ?Oman is more law-abiding that Kuwait ever was, thankfully. ?I've been at the wrong end of a gun several times since we've been in this neck of the woods, but at least the bullets have stayed inside the gun....until now.

You've read the story, now here's the pics.




You can see why we didn?t spot it easily. ?The net curtain almost hid it and outside the window is higher than eye level so, if we weren?t looking upwards, we wouldn?t have seen it.

Hi Mother Bear,

Do hope you are feeling a bit better now ... it does look from the photos that it was high jinks from cowardly kids - if someone really wanted to terrify, they would have shot lower or made sure the room was occupied. Still, it is a big shock.
>:(

I'm fine now, thanks Glenda.  I think it was more indignation than anything else and concern over what could have happened if one of us had been standing behind the window at the time.  Although, from outside, the window appears high up, inside it isn't, due to different floor levels.  If they'd picked one of the other two windows along that side of the house, they'd have stood a very good chance of hitting one of us as we use those rooms most frequently, especially the kitchen where I'd be standing right behind the window.  There's no way they could see if anyone was by the windows because of the tinted, mirrored glass and net curtains.

Just got to very carefully hoover up all the tiny, very fine, bits of glass that sprayed all over the settee now and wait for someone to appear to fix the window.  Meanwhile, I guess I could look into having a sub-machine gun mounted on the balcony.  Very tempting ;D.

I'm glad that you and the hubster are okay, MB. Those holes look like they're from something bigger than a shotgun. What a nasty surprise. Here, I worry about descending bullets, especially on New Year's Eve and Independence Day, because our area has more than its fair share of gun-toting morons.