Fire service discourages use of Chinese lanterns

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1. As people across Greater Manchester prepare to celebrate the start of the ‘Year of the Rabbit’ this week, the fire service would like to highlight concerns about the use of Chinese lanterns also referred to as sky or wish lanterns.
   
   The lanterns are made from a paper or fabric shell with a bamboo or metal frame and are designed to rise in the air reaching heights of up to a mile when an integrated fuel pad is ignited. It is usual for the lanterns to be supplied with a list of ‘safety instructions’ but as a principle the fire service would strongly discourage their use.
   
   Sky lanterns have already been banned in Australia and Germany following separate fires which were thought to have been started by stray lanterns - one of which caused a building fire estimated to have cost in excess of £200,000 and a separate house fire in which a ten year old boy was killed.
   
   County Fire Officer and Chief Executive Steve McGuirk said: “We want everyone to enjoy the Chinese New Year celebrations safely and we would ask people to think carefully before using Chinese lanterns - once lit and released there is no control over its direction or where it lands.”