The Dhaka Times Desk Who does not like to see small light lanterns in the night sky. Thousands of vehicles of light seem to be moving towards the field of Tepantar. But even the tiny flame of this lantern can start a deadly fire. Fanus has been blamed for a devastating fire at a recycling plant in the West Midlands. Apart from the fire hazard, lanterns also pose a number of other problems.
Paper lanterns consist of a candle or wax coating fuel inside a bush or wire frame. When the fire is lit, the lantern rises up and when the wax runs out of fuel, it comes down. It can reach a height of about 1000 meters and fly several miles with the help of wind. Flying lanterns is becoming increasingly popular at weddings, Halloween festivals, music festivals and even funerals. 200,000 Chinese lanterns are sold in the UK each year. It has been banned in several countries due to the problems caused by lanterns.
Glastonbury festival organizers have banned Chinese lanterns due to environmental hazards and fire risks. Farmers and animal charities have pressed for a ban on the sale of lanterns, claiming that animals can eat parts of fallen lanterns. In 2010, a cow died after eating the wire frame of a lantern lying in a field. Apart from that, many UK lantern manufacturing firms claim that bamboo framework lanterns are eco-friendly. But the RSPCA still claims it is dangerous. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) declared the ban due to the low risk of death and injury to livestock.
The Coastguard and RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) have called for banning lanterns as they send false warning messages at sea. The RNLI reported an increase in the number of lifeboat calls to help mistakenly caused by lanterns in 2010. Last year, the Marine Conservation Society also called for a ban on lanterns after seeing an increase in the number of pieces of rubber, paper and metal left in seabed surveys. Charities have called for £2,500 fines for people who leave lanterns at risk to marine life and other things.
Civil aviation authorities say lanterns are extremely hazardous to aircraft engines. They claim that the broken lantern structure lying on the ground can cause serious damage to the aircraft's engine, tires and fuselage. Lanterns have been banned in Sanya, a popular Chinese tourist destination, after dozens of flights were delayed. Last year the Donegal Civil Aviation Authority issued an alert after thousands of gallons of aircraft fuel containers fell on a lantern in front of the park.
A 2011 national survey found that three-quarters of UK firefighters reported that they received the most calls for emergency help to fight fires caused by lanterns. Damage from lantern flames is mainly caused by fires in gardens and roofs of houses. But firefighters said workers in most fields experienced false alarms as lantern fires quickly extinguished. Fanus is most dangerous during summer due to dryness. Many local fire authorities have banned lanterns.
UFO (unidentified flying object) tracking of strange lights or objects flying in the sky has grown in popularity with the increasing popularity of lanterns. Recently files in the National Archives show that the Ministry of Defense UFO Desk deleted the 2009 report three times. In 2006, one of the UK dailies headlined the Lantern and UFO Outage. Residents of a small Scottish town reported the lantern to the police after mistaking it for a strange light in the sky or a saucer at a wedding.
References: BBC
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