Firecrackers Great Tradition Or Dangerous?

[clakclak]

Like pretty much every new year Germany lost lives to firecrackers this year again. 2 18 year old guys died independently in the city of Bielefeld, a city I know very well. According to some sources one of the explosions was string enough to be felt in the entire city. Bielefeld is a city of 300.000+ people.

The day before New Years I was standing at a big bus stop in a different city, where meny lines start and end. A group of around 20 people made it their mission to shot rockets into the doors of the bus as soon as they opened, often hitting passenger in the process. Not far from there, at least 1 person was arrested for throwing firecrackers from an overpass onto the people walking below.

To give people who may not be from the countries where this seems to regularly escalate (I am aware it is an issue in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria, but I am sure there are others) an idea of what some of these, often self build, New Years crackers are like in their worst form here is an example. I remember when I was in school a classmate of mine used to make these out of Coca Cola bottles he filled with self made Napalm.

So where should the boundries lie?

Just continue forbidding the self made stuff? Or all firecrackers? Or is tradition worth the sacrifice?

[Alan Phipps]

It's a bit like the question of whether knives are dangerous and the answer lies in context (ie a teenager carrying a Rambo combat knife at a night out versus a butcher safely taking the tools of his trade home). I think the current laws of most countries would cater for this by saying that carrying a potentially offensive weapon with the intent to cause damage, injury or public nuisance or concern is highly illegal.

If someone were to be stopped and searched on suspicion and an overpowerful 'cherry bomb' was found on them then they would be pushed to give a suitable explanation for having it. Even 'legal' commercial fireworks are regulated with stern warnings about their safe handling and use and avoiding hazard through misuse and negligence. Home-made devices are considered intrinsically unsafe and failing to meet statutory hazard regulations - they would have to be handled as such if discovered by authorities.

[mr.WHO]

The day before New Years I was standing at a big bus stop in a different city, where meny lines start and end. A group of around 20 people made it their mission to shot rockets into the doors of the bus as soon as they opened, often hitting passenger in the process. Not far from there, at least 1 person was arrested for throwing firecrackers from an overpass onto the people walking below.

To give people who may not be from the countries where this seems to regularly escalate (I am aware it is an issue in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria, but I am sure there are others) an idea of what some of these, often self build, New Years crackers are like in their worst form here is an example. I remember when I was in school a classmate of mine used to make these out of Coca Cola bottles he filled with self made Napalm.

So where should the boundries lie?

I think in those cases, it's not the fireworks that are the issue, but sheer criminal human idiocy - if they wouldn't have access to fireworks, they would find something else to endanger themselves and worse, everyone around.
The only solution is to treat it for what it is - a criminal act.

Secondary measure would be to heavily regulate what fireworks could be sold, but as you mention, this won't fix idiots who would try to mod fireworks.



Every New Year Eve I have low key fear some drunken random idiot would launch a rocket into my window, but so far people in my area have common sence to launch those from safe distance.

Another weird thing is, that this year fireworks were very short and low intense, like just 5 minutes max and at most 30% intensity of previous year.
Same with the day after - normally you have several dozen "late fireworks" in day after, but somehow today there was only 2 or 3 for entire day.

I'm half serious, but maybe indeed all stupid people moved to Netherlands, Germany and Austria.

[Chips]

Birmingham (city I live in, not the area this happened...) earlier this year. And that's not the *only* incident that happened this year. By any stretch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-jHAjmiAc

I used to live in Leeds city centre, and 2 weeks before Bonfire night (Nov 5th UK Celebration) they used to fix metal slots to the Post Office letter boxes to prevent kids from putting fireworks into the post and burning it. There were house fires from the same fireworks being posted through people's house letter boxes; it may be urban legend, but someone died in house fire associated with this. Over 20 years ago. I don't think any of this is new.

In the UK the public can only buy fireworks at certain times of the year, and only on sale to over 18's - yet still get this crap. Personally, hate it. The level of thinking/compassion/consideration "this is actually dangerous to others and terrorises people" isn't developed in brains sufficiently under the age of like 30, so it's easy for teens and early 20's to think "it's just a laugh" - but areas of cities become *horrible* places to live at certain times of the year.

So it's societal problem rather than country specific. Thankfully they don't seem to improvise home made devices, but as long as they only kill/maim themselves, then it's a harsh lesson but their own fault. We have legislation and it doesn't do much, so clearly deterrence isn't sufficient. I personally don't see the need for individuals to buy fireworks anymore, but blanket bans would result in black markets and cries about nanny state, so where's the balance.

[mr.WHO]

So it's societal problem rather than country specific. Thankfully they don't seem to improvise home made devices, but as long as they only kill/maim themselves, then it's a harsh lesson but their own fault. We have legislation and it doesn't do much, so clearly deterrence isn't sufficient. I personally don't see the need for individuals to buy fireworks anymore, but blanket bans would result in black markets and cries about nanny state, so where's the balance.

We're at times where all you need is one stupid Tik Tok trend to get things ugly.
However, I presume govermental sanity to force Social Media to put ban hammer on moding fireworks (if it's not already outright illegal).

[Observe]

It's a great tradition - for a noisy, obnoxious species. There is no cure for human idiocy. It would be bad enough if the damage was constrained to our own kind.

Alas, one in five pets (about 20%) will go missing on New Year’s Eve due to being startled by fireworks or other loud noises, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). That's a lot of terrified pets!

So, yea, if it were up to me, I'd ban fireworks sales altogether. Let's save the explosives for our many insane wars.

Oh, by the way, Happy New Year.

[mr.WHO]

I don't know if this is one of reasons that sparked this topic but even very tame sparkles can be deadly:
https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news ... 6p2rhrxq28

[Usenko]

In Australia, crackers are banned for the most part (with occasional exceptions made). It has reduced injuries considerably.

It has also led to a massive increase in the funding available for professional firework displays. . .

[Chips]

I don't know if this is one of reasons that sparked this topic but even very tame sparkles can be deadly:
https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news ... 6p2rhrxq28

Sparklers themselves aren't deadly. What is deadly is having building materials and/or other materials that are incredibly flammable, so that fires spread incredibly rapidly (coupled with ineffective fire escapes).

I'm sure it'll all come out eventually as to how this fire spread so quickly, but here's a list of previous night club fires involving multiple victims, over the last hundred years or so. Plenty of pyrotechnic (sparklers, fireworks - you'd think there'd be regulations world wide by now...), or flammable foam/panels/tiles etc - some with high death counts as fire exits chained shut to prevent people "leaving without paying..." - unbelievable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nightclub_fires

What's incredibly sad is seeing a few vids of it starting where people aren't reacting, no alarm raised, guy flapping a tea towel to try and put it out. Zero training, zero clue. But since this has been going on for so many years around the world, lessons won't be learnt and it'll be doomed to repeat.

[mr.WHO]

Sparklers themselves aren't deadly. What is deadly is having building materials and/or other materials that are incredibly flammable, so that fires spread incredibly rapidly (coupled with ineffective fire escapes).

I must admit when I say sparklers, I see the kids stuff that we call "cold fire" and it's actualy quite safe to use even indoors.

However, what I see on this BBC footage seems like 10-20 times stronger - I don't know Swiss firecraker laws, but I don't think these are indoor certified:
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/1 ... e68710.jpg

[TSM]

Anything is dangerous if you put it in the hands of a pillock