Fire rages through the seaside forest at Woodend Beach on November 3, 2022. Photo / Mid South Canterbury Fire and Emergency, via Facebook
Fire rages through the seaside forest at Woodend Beach on November 3, 2022. Photo / Mid South Canterbury Fire and Emergency, via Facebook
Editorial
EDITORIAL
The 200ha blaze that forced the frightening evacuation of 130 people from a North Canterbury holiday park on Thursday night should have been enough to end the debate on private firework sales.
Should have been, but isn’t. That’s because we’ve just endured another night of this pyrotechnical stupidity asevery firebug with 50 bucks to burn does so, despite the nuisance factor and very real hazards. As we know, this will go on tonight and tomorrow night. Some will also hoard the incendiaries for birthdays, and New Year parties over the summer.
More outlets joined The Warehouse, Kmart, Foodstuffs and Woolworths to confirm their stores will not sell fireworks each year. This leaves the trade to a few diehard entrepreneurs literally selling them out of shipping containers. Good on them for seeing a need and filling it. But how loud does the chorus of disapproval from exhausted fire and emergency staff, to emergency doctors and the general public have to be to drown out the pops, bangs, and seal-like whoops of delight? Yes, some people love letting off their own crackers but arson is a crime in most other settings.
Had the 1605 Gunpowder Plot ignited, it’s estimated everything would have been razed to the ground for a radius of about 40m. Within 110m, buildings would have been at least partially destroyed. And some windows would have been blown out even as far as 900m away. But it didn’t.
Instead, we keep inflicting miniature re-enactments on ourselves more than 400 years on. It’s time to stop retail sales and restrict use to public displays, perhaps during Matariki in the winter when our landscape isn’t so dry.
At the risk of quoting another modern-day plotter: “Fireworks, you’re fired”.
