Restrict Fireworks
The Evidence for September 2009
Sep 8, Take cover!
Festival fans are bombarded by fireworks debris, Scotsman
It is the traditional finale
to Edinburgh's festival season, where thousands of rapt spectators in Princes
Street Gardens watch the annual fireworks spectacular.
But safety concerns have been
raised because six bystanders at this year's Fireworks Concert sought medical
help after being hit in the eyes by falling embers, and large bits of debris
showered other ticket-goers in the bandstand area.
Jim Campbell, 37, a mental health consultant and magician from Leith, said that
debris fell in his eyes as he lay down near the fountain in Princes Street
Gardens on Sunday night.
"My friend Susan got embers in her eyes too, and missed the end of the
performance because of it," he said.
"I was worried she was missing the best part (of the show] and saw her
head was down. I asked her why and she said it was because she had bits in her
eye. I was hit on the leg as well."
Another bystander, who asked not to be named, told The Scotsman: "I was in
the seating area at the bandstand and there were quite a lot of pieces of fireworks
falling.
"We got hit by a couple of bits of cardboard
debris."
A third spectator, watching the fireworks from a fifth-floor office on the
corner of Castle Street and Princes Street, described how he saw people
screaming and scattering as the embers fell. He
also said one firework failed to launch and lodged in nearby trees.
Even Steve Cardownie, Edinburgh City Council's festivals champion, who was
watching the fireworks from a seat in the Ross bandstand, admitted he got ash
in his eyes. "I was very surprised to see some embers coming down.
"I have never seen anything like this before," he said. "I
spotted about half a dozen bits floating down. It's regrettable that some
people suffered minor injuries."
He added: "This is definitely a cause for concern and there will be a
health and safety debriefing so we will look at what can be done for next year.
"I do not know yet if this means changing elements of the display. But I
am sure there is a technical answer."
Mr Cardownie blamed weather conditions for the mishap."There was no change
in fireworks that were used, all the old favourites
were there.
"The weather has been the best I have experienced – it was a very still
night, which meant the debris just floated down on people."
Rod Bain, producer of the Bank of Scotland fireworks concert, said: "As
the event organisers, the safety of our audience, artists and staff is
paramount.
"As with all firework displays, there was some light debris which fell
within the gardens. The display posed minimal risk of debris incidents and the
show was fired in full, with approval from public safety and emergency
services.
"From the 14,500 Princes Street Garden ticket-holders, six reported
ash-in-eye incidents to first-aiders. These came very early in the display and,
other than a twisted ankle, there were no further injuries.
"If a serious problem had developed, the fireworks could have been stopped
very quickly. We are pleased that the 2009 Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert
was enjoyed by an estimated 220,000 viewers across the city."
International fireworks artists Wilf Scott and Keith Webb from Pyrovision
presented a 45-minute display involving more than 100,000 fireworks, four
tonnes of explosives, and hundreds of firing sequences, including the classic
waterfall cascading from Edinburgh Castle.
Sep 8, Take cover!
Festival fans are bombarded by fireworks debris, Scotsman
Sep 15, £4,000 fireworks
stolen in Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove Standard
Police in Bromsgrove are urging residents to be on the lookout for £4,000
worth of fireworks which were stolen from Stoke Prior.
They were taken when thieves
broke into a compound in Brickhouse Lane between 7pm last Tuesday (September 8)
and 8am last Wednesday (September 9).
Among the fireworks seized
were Kimbolton branded spinning banshee wheels, large gold sparklers and
Krakens, along with various rockets.
PC Claire Rees from
Bromsgrove Police appealed for anyone with any information or anyone who
noticed a vehicle or any unusual activity in Brickhouse Lane in Stoke Prior
between those two days to call her on 0300 333 3000 or Crimestoppers on 0800
555 111.
“We would also appeal to
anyone who sees any such fireworks for sale in suspicious circumstances to get
in touch,” added PC Rees.
Sep 15, £4,000 fireworks
stolen in Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove Standard
Sep 17, Expert makes
fireworks plea, Evening Telegraph
A wildlife expert is
appealing for youngsters to urge their parents to only attend organised
firework displays this year to help protect animals and the environment.
Andy Meads runs the Safewings
Wildlife Conservation Projects in Isham.
The charity helps with the rehabilitation of more than 4,000 animals a year.
Mr Meads said: "We hope that schools and pupils will support our call to
see only organised firework displays over the bonfire period and New Year
celebrations.
"More than 25,000 domestic animals suffer each year in the UK, due solely
to the public's use of fireworks in their gardens and we hope that pupils will
call on their parents to take them to an organised event where the noise and
flashes are contained in one area and in a short timescale."
Safewings is the only specific wild bird specialist in the region and the only
Northamptonshire-based animal welfare organisation which was invited to be a
consultant in the new Animal Welfare Act.
Its work is linked with conservation and also directly with the rehabilitation
and release of wildlife.
Mr Meads said: "We are told constantly about the damage we, as people, are
doing to our world and how serious a matter global warming and climate change
are becoming."
Mr Meads added that the pollution from the
manufacture of fireworks and the smoke they emit also cause numerous problems.
He said: "This is a real threat for people with asthma or multiple chemical sensitivity.
"Smoke from fireworks combustion may contain a mixture of sulphur-coal
compounds, traces of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals or gases.
"Water pollution can occur as firework fallout can contaminate water
supplies and residue on the ground can end up in our lakes, rivers or oceans.
"Fireworks can exceed 140 decibels and noise
at 85 decibels or above can damage hearing."
Sep 17, Expert makes
fireworks plea, Evening Telegraph
Sep 22, Fireworks’
financial figures, Andover Advertiser
In reference to Mrs J Scutt’
(Letters, August 20) ‘Fireworks money to burn’, the sum of £50,000 was not
spent on the firework display as stated in the Echo.
£8,000 went on council
cleansing, £13,000 to policing and marshals, the
rest went to the firework display (£29,000) to show the Island’s
appreciation to the yachtsmen and women who over the period of the seven days
of Cowes Week
put millions of their cash as did the ‘pop fans’ and the power boat race,
ramblers and 700 motorbike boys. Not forgetting the day tippers, who without
their money coming to this Island, hundreds of businesses would fold up.
The firework display itself
draws 50,000 to Cowes and clubs, public houses and restaurants do a good trade
also hundreds of temporary employment is created.
S A
BROWNING, Cowes, IOW.
Sep 22, Fireworks’
financial figures, Andover Advertiser
Sep 23, Killer fireworks,
RT
At least one
person has been killed and 34 injured in an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the central Russian town of Voronezh.
At least 24 have been
hospitalized, with two in a critical condition.
According to the Voronezh
region emergency chief Igor Kobzev, 35 of those injured were residents of
apartment buildings near the warehouse. The rest were passersby.
The regional Emergency
Ministry cited breaches of storage rules for explosives as a possible reason
for the blast.
The explosion, and the fire
that followed, completely destroyed the warehouse and smashed the windows of
nearby buildings.
Firefighters have now put out
the flames and are searching through the rubble.
Sep 23, Killer fireworks,
RT
Sep 24, Crackdown on
misuse of fireworks, BBC News
Police are cracking down on
the misuse of fireworks in a Surrey town after two incidents in the same
evening.
A firework
exploded after it was put in a bottle and placed under a car in Johnston Walk in Stoughton on Tuesday.
Shortly after, another
firework placed in a bottle exploded after it was thrown from a moving car in
Knox Road.
No-one has been arrested but
police in Guildford claim they are taking a zero tolerance approach to this
type of anti-social behaviour.
Sep 24, Crackdown on
misuse of fireworks, BBC News
Sep 24, 'Firework'
explosion under West Hampstead resident's home, Ham & High
An explosive
device was thrown under the car at a West Hampstead home on Tuesday causing the street to be evacuated.
Residents were asked to leave their homes in Ranulf Road as police sealed off
the area at around 4pm. A device, which police believe may have been a
firework, was thrown underneath a vehicle parked in a driveway.
Witnesses say a car pulled up alongside the parked vehicle, then
a man jumped out and threw an object underneath it before driving off. Seconds
later there was a small explosion which blew open the windows leaving glass
strewn across the driveway. Residents who spoke to the Ham & High say the
house belongs to an estate agent.
One resident who asked not to be named said: "The bang was incredible. I
thought it was a bomb straight away. It was frightening."
Thankfully the owners of the car were not in the drive at the time and there
were no reported injuries.
Police and firefighters rushed to the scene and residents were told to leave
their homes while officers searched for any other devices on the street.
The victims were allowed to return to their home shortly after 6pm.
A spokesman for Barnet police said: "Officers attended and fortunately
no-one reported any injuries. At this early stage it is believed suspects threw
a firework into a car.
Sep 24, 'Firework'
explosion under West Hampstead resident's home, Ham & High
Sep 25, At
least 11 dead in explosion at Brazilian firework store, RIA Novosti
At least 11
people died in an explosion at a firework warehouse outside Sao Paulo, local media said, citing fire officials on Thursday.
At least 10 people were
injured in the warehouse blast, which destroyed at least four nearby homes.
Some 170 rescue workers are
at the scene trying to locate people in the debris, while some 15 firefighting
units are involved in tackling the blaze.
Sep 25, At
least 11 dead in explosion at Brazilian firework store, RIA Novosti
Sep 28, A family 'taunted
and tormented' , BBC News
A single mother
who set fire to her car in a Leicestershire lay-by, killing herself and her
disabled daughter, had been taunted by gangs for 10 years.
Fiona Pilkington drove
18-year-old Francecca 'Frankie' Hardwick to a lay-by on the A47 and poured
petrol on the back seat.
An inquest at Loughborough
Town Hall heard 38-year-old Ms Pilkington had repeatedly complained to the
police after being targeted by local gangs of youths for 10 years.
Ms Pilkington was a full-time
carer for her disabled daughter, who was becoming increasingly difficult to
look after as she got older, the inquest heard.
Her son Anthony Hardwick, now
19, is severely dyslexic and had also been targeted by the gang.
Two years after their deaths
in October 2007 her family told the inquest that her death was "a final
act of desperation" after she could no longer endure the torment.
They had been constantly
taunted by groups of up to 16 youngsters. Stones, eggs and flour were regularly
thrown at the family home in Barwell.
Francecca's grandmother Pam
Cassell, 72, said her daughter had taped up her letter box the week before she
died, fearing that fireworks would be thrown through it.
Mrs Cassell spoke of one
ordeal endured by the family.
"It was Halloween and
firework night was coming up. Fiona was dreading them because she knew the
children would start throwing things at the house and
start putting fireworks through the letterbox."
She added: "Frankie was
frustrated because she couldn't go out in the garden without being tormented or
teased.
"We would take her to
the park and take her out in the rain because she used to love jumping in
puddles.
"Frankie could be
genuinely loveable but when she was frustrated she used to pull hair and bite
and punch because she couldn't do what she wanted to do."
Coroner Olivia Davison heard
about an incident when Anthony was put into a shed at knifepoint.
But despite dozens of calls
to police and Hinkley and Bosworth Borough Council, little was done to help the
family.
Mrs Cassell said at one point
the council imposed a 300-yard exclusion zone around the house in an attempt to
stop the youths, but failed to enforce it.
She said her daughter
contacted the council four or five times and phoned police at least ten times a
year asking for help.
She said the school holidays
and weekends were the worst and her daughter constantly had her curtains
closed.
'In despair'
"On the day that they
died, Fiona rang up the police and told them children were walking on the hedge
and she was told to ignore them.
"The same girls that
were walking on the hedge were 'taking the mickey' out of Frankie and imitating
the way she walked.
"On another day it was
beautifully sunny and I asked why she had the curtains drawn.
"She said the police had
told them to do it, so they couldn't see the children walking on the hedge.
"It was going on for so
long I thought somebody would have done something. Fiona just gave up."
Mrs Cassell added: "She
was in despair really, nobody did anything and she was just frustrated. Nobody
was doing anything to help her, not the police, the council or the
Neighbourhood Watch."
The inquest heard the family
had never taken a holiday together and Mrs Pilkington had never received
respite care for her daughter, because she did not know how to apply for it.
Asked by the coroner why Ms
Pilkington had taken her daughter out in the car with her that night, Mrs
Cassell said : "She didn't think anybody would be
able to cope with Frankie. She was getting a lot stronger."
The jury returned a suicide
verdict on Ms Pilkington and ruled that her daughter was unlawfully killed.
Sep 28, A family 'taunted
and tormented' , BBC News
Sep 30, Fireworks thrown
at pensioners in Bogside, Derry Journal
Residents of Derry's Bogside
have said they are "living in fear" after
reports that young people have been throwing fireworks at pensioners in the
area.
The news comes a week after
young vandals cut down lampposts and lights at a pedestrian crossing locally in
what one local Sinn Féin councillor described as an “orgy of destruction.”
Several residents of the area contacted the ‘Journal,’ claiming that their
lives are being made a misery by anti-social behaviour. One resident, who did
not wish to be named, said the situation has got so bad that she in now afraid
to walk to the shop alone.
She said: “Groups of young ones are standing about drinking on the streets day
and night. It’s got so bad that I’m afraid to walk down the street to go to the
shop. Teenagers are throwing fireworks at people, including pensioners, and
almost scaring them to death. It has been getting worse for a while. l was afraid to speak out in case my house was targeted but
I can’t take it anymore. The only word to describe it is craziness.”
Another Bogside resident also said she had seen fireworks being thrown in the
area.
“They are lighting fireworks and throwing them at old people walking to the
shop and at cars driving past. It’s becoming unbearable here,” she claimed.
Sinn Féin councillor for the area Patricia Logue appealed to people not to buy
illegal fireworks.
“I was contacted by a number of residents who were concerned about fireworks
over the weekend. I would like to impress on young people that fireworks can be
very frightening for older members of our community,” she said.
Michael Gallagher from the 32 County Sovereignty Movement said plans are being
put in place to tackle anti-social behaviour in the area.
“The 32 County Sovereignty Movement and other republican groups are putting an
initiative together to try and deal with the problem in a holistic way. We
can’t do this by ourselves, however, and we would ask parents to make sure
their children are not involved in this type of behaviour,” he said.
Sep 30, Fireworks thrown
at pensioners in Bogside, Derry Journal
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