Fire services across the UK warn of the dangers of Chinese lanterns

Fire services across the UK are warning of the dangers of using Chinese lanterns.

The paper lanterns are used to celebrate weddings and birthdays and becoming increasingly popular in the UK, especially in the summer months.

Fire crew across the UK have had to deal with a string of accidents involving the lanterns in the last few months. In St Annes, Lancashire there have been incidents were the lanterns had fallen onto the roof of a petrol station and others that have set alight to trees. Lancashire fire bosses are urging residents to think carefully before using them.

Steve Morgan, Prevention Support Manager at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: “There is no guarantee the fuel source will be fully extinguished and cooled when the lantern eventually descends and that presents a real fire hazard, having started four fires, typically by landing in dry vegetation, in the past 18 months in Lancashire. Though that’s not a large number in itself reports from other parts of the country, including those of a lantern burning through the wall of a marquee at the Glastonbury Festival and a near miss on a roof at Winchester Cathedral, suggests it’s only a matter of time before a lantern starts a serious blaze in Lancashire.”

In Bamber Bridge, lanterns were launched in the yard of a house during a late-night party. The lanterns were then blown onto fabric garden chairs causing a fire which quickly spread to the kitchen wall and spread to an air vent which then channelled the fire upwards into the cavity wall between the house and the neighbouring property.

Steve Morgan added: “With recent experience of a week-long moorland fire at Belmont, we are only too aware of the way grass, shrubs and trees can easily and quickly ignite and burn with great ferocity. Lanterns can travel considerable distances and their flight direction and where they land is unpredictable, so there is a strong argument to ban their use altogether, which is the case in most parts of Germany and even in some provinces of their country of origin.”