Dear All
I wonder if anybody has come across any fires where the supposed cause was the possibility of a Chinese lantern. This happened recently at a farm fire in my own service and was only identified as the possible cause due to an eagle-eyed witness.
More recently I was giving a Fire Safety talk to a group of farmers from the National Farmers Union and I was asked the question if the Fire Service supported calls from some insurance companies to have Chinese lanterns banned in the UK. I have to admit that I wasn't sure of the position of national bodies such as CFOA, but suggested that tighter controls and greater awareness of the risks were certainly required.
The difficulty, as I see it, for Fire Investigation Officers, is the possibility of a Chinese lantern is unlikely to feature highly on the list of possible causes and the release of such a lantern is most likely to be remote from where a fire started. I would be interested to know the likelihood of a Chinese lantern descending to the ground when it is still lit as my understanding is they would remain airborne until they have self-extinguished, however, that does not necessarily seem to be the case. Hopefully one for further discussion.
All the best
Alan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Alan, a Chinese Lantern type "hot air balloon" was the cause of a fire in Latvia about three years ago that destroyed a hotel. Apparently it is the custom there to give each wedding guest one of these, frankly lethal, devices and, the lights are then lit and generate enough heat to lift the things off and allow them to travel some distance. In the Latvian case one caught in the thatch of the hotel roof and the result was a total burn-out. The paper was presented by a former Latvian fire officer at a conference in Poznan in 2007. I may still have the presentation somewhere if this is the type of thing you are looking for. These "lanterns" are very popular in Eastern and Central Europe where I understand they have been involved in a number of fires.
ReplyDeleteAlan, one of my Watch Managers has done a report for Trading Standards on the subject of Chinese Lanterns. I will email a copy to your work address when I get back in the office. From the research I think they are going to become a bigger problem in the future.
ReplyDeleteChris
I too have produced a report for my FRS on the ignition source possibilities of Chinese lanterns if anyone is interested?
ReplyDelete