General Chat

They have become so popular but it's too much of a risk unless they are used in a very safe area with no strong winds to take them to people's houses and properties and to grazing land.

Lizx

I saw some lit this summer. The first one off the ground got caught in a tree!! Lucky the fire dept weren't needed.

I live in Halstead and remember it well.

Teresa

They have also been mistaken for flares, and coastguards have been sent out on wild goosechases.

Nudge

I think there was an item about these lanterns on Countryfile a while a go.

I think there is a wire in the construction which ends up on fields etc, when the lantern itself is gone. That gets into crops, which can be used for animal feed. Tiny pieces of wire can kill a cow, sheep etc.

Horrid things.

They are crazy things and you have highlighted the hazzards well.
We were camping during the summer and there was a couple trying to fly one,luckily without any joy.They were on a piece of grass,tents on two sides....gusty wind...I dread to think where it would have gone.
Kay

Gentle nudge please

Thank you
xx

...and they land in fields where cows are interested, eat the things and die, and can be mistaken for distress flares:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8490524.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/7127935/Farmers-call-for-ban-on-Chinese-lanterns.html

anyone releasing these airborne firebombs should be prosecuted......for attempted arson!
thousands of acres of farmland crops might be destroyed in a moment of fun.............ooops!! madness!!

let alone someones petrol garage

Bob

Chinese lanterns warning
5:36pm Thursday 28th October 2010


A warning has been issued on the use of Chinese lanterns at Halloween and bonfire night.

The Country Land and Business Association is asking people to think again before letting of the fire lanterns as part of their celebrations.

An association spokesman said: “The risk of fire to land and property, and threat to people, livestock and pets simply cannot justify the continued use of what many people are now coming to appreciate is a real hazard.”

In August, a couple in Ridgewell near Halstead had a lucky escape after a lantern got caught in their television aerial and set fire to their thatched cottage.

CLA Essex chairman Simon Brice added: “Manufacturers and importers defend their products as an environmentally friendly way for people to enjoy themselves, but it is patently obvious that they are actually a potentially lethal fire risk.

“Even in open countryside, there are barns, houses, farmyards, and woodland where people and animals could be put at risk.”