Smethwick fire: Call for ban on 20p Chinese lantern firebombs which sparked devastating inferno
MPs and experts want paper lanterns outlawed after 11 firefighters were hurt when a recycling plant went up in flames and caused £6m worth of damage
Smethwick fire
DESPERATE firefighters battle a raging inferno that witnesses said was like seeing the Apocalypse.
Eleven firefighters were injured and £6million of damage was caused when more than 100,000 tonnes of waste plastic and paper went up in flames at a recycling plant.
The blaze was started at 11pm on Sunday by a Chinese lantern that floated on to the site and landed on some rubbish, setting it alight.
More than 200 firefighters have tackled the blaze at the industrial estate. Steven Bolton, 29, who lives near the plant at Smethwick, in the West Midlands, said: “It was like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.
“It was apocalyptic. There was just a wall of flames that extended as far as the eye could see.
“I could make out this silhouette of firefighters against this orange backdrop.
“It was like hell on earth.”
Another witness, Jack Awal, said: “There were so many large explosions and loud bangs.
“It was like a firework display – there were loud crackles and bangs every few seconds.”
West Midlands Fire Service said it was the biggest blaze it has ever dealt with.
Crews were still battling the smouldering wreckage yesterday. The fire may take a week to bring under control.
Thick plumes of black smoke billowed up to 6,000ft in the air and could be seen more than 80 miles away.
The injured firefighters needed treatment for heat exhaustion and burns. Three were taken to hospital.
Last night there were calls for the Government to ban Chinese lanterns.
The novelty items, which are made of wire and paper, float for miles, carrying a lit candle. They can cost as little as 20p each.
Vijith Randeniya, chief fire officer of West Midlands Fire Service, said: “My forensics people have been here from the start and have reviewed CCTV and spoken to people and looked at the way the fire started. Looking at the CCTV evidence, you can see a Chinese lantern floating gently, then landing – eight minutes later you see the fire start.
“We don’t want to be party poopers and we know they are used in a lot of celebrations, but a fire has started here, with £6million of damage, started by one of these lanterns.
“This was eminently preventable.”
Mr Randeniya said his crews were using machinery at the 300sq-metre industrial estate to “break up” the bales of plastic to get at the heart of the blaze. Firefighters have been extinguishing molten pools of melted plastic. Labour MP John Spellar, whose Warley constituency includes Smethwick, joined the calls for the lanterns to be outlawed. He said: “There’s clearly a significant risk and they should be banned.
“There is already a ban in Austria, Spain, Germany New Zealand, Brazil and Australia. We should do the same.”
Tom Watson, the Labour MP for nearby West Bromwich East, tweeted: “I think it should spell the end of Chinese lanterns. They’re just not safe.”
Ministers also came under attack for ignoring a report by environment consultancy ADAS to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in May which warned of the dangers posed by Chinese lanterns. Defra chiefs rejected a ban at that time because they deemed the risk of death and injury to people and livestock as low.
This was despite repeated reports of fires being caused by the lanterns across the country.
The Chief Fire Officers Association recently warned people against releasing the lanterns, saying although they looked spectacular, “they cannot be controlled once airborne”.
Yesterday the CFOA said “an urgent review” was now needed.
In a statement, it called for fire services to look at the possibility of working with councils, police and trading standards officers to discourage lit lanterns being released. Bosses suggested that licences for public events could be withheld if there are plans to use lanterns.
The statement also suggested exploring whether legal claims for damages could be brought against people who release them. A spokesman said: “There is evidence of them causing fires, wasting police time, being mistaken for distress flares, misleading aircraft and killing livestock. The risk of these occurrences will only increase as the use of Chinese lanterns increases.
“CFOA does not support the use of these devices and asks members of the public and event organisers to refrain from using them. While these lanterns are undoubtedly a popular and beautiful sight, the potential damage they can cause is significant.”
More than 40 fire engines, along with police and ambulance crews, attended the blaze on Sunday night at the Jayplas Recycling plant. Fire services yesterday warned that the fire may cause major travel disruption.
Motorists were urged to avoid junction 1 of the M5 because of acrid smoke.
West Midlands Fire Service recently axed 30 jobs and scrapped four appliances in April as a result of having £21million cut from its budget. The overstretched service received 420 emergency calls about the blaze.
Shadow Fire Minister Chris Williamson was forced to cancel his planned visit to the fire service because managers were too busy co-ordinating the massive firefighting effort.
A spokesman for the Jayplas recycling plant yesterday thanked the emergency services for their “speedy response” and professionalism.
In a statement, he added: “It looks likely that the fire was caused by a Chinese lantern landing on the site and starting the fire.
“This was a tragic accident over which we have no control.”
In May after the ADAS findings, a Defra spokesman said: “While farmers have lost livestock because of ingested wire from sky lanterns, the evidence from this independent report shows that any widespread risk of injury and death to cattle and impact on the environment is low.
“Based on these findings, we have no plans to ban the use of sky lanterns.”
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/smethwick-fire-call-ban-20p-2014928#ixzz2Y2bNVw3p
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