Editorial: Save right to fireworks - Play it safe

As Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes approach, we hear increasing calls for a complete ban on public sales of fireworks. This year the Fire Service has joined the call for the first time, recalling that last year's fireworks season was the worst it had endured for a decade. Police are of a similar view and many, perhaps most, of the public now favour even tighter controls. About two-thirds of those surveyed by the Fire Service are said to support a ban or further restrictions.

None of this is surprising. Safety is paramount in public policy these days and the surprise is rather that families are still free to buy a bag of explosive devices and detonate them in the backyard. The pleasure is brief, the potential for harm always present; pets are terrified and children get bored after a few bangs, which only adds to the danger unless adults keep firm control of proceedings. Many find more pleasure in attending a public display.

Yet even a safety-conscious Government continues to resist a complete clamp-down. The Environment Minister, David Benson-Pope, warns that we will have to behave better this year than last, or risk restrictions next year. He has written to retailers asking them to stress the safety message to customers. The Environmental Risk Management Authority, the police and the Fire Service are running a publicity campaign aimed at making this our safest fireworks fortnight.

The Auckland SPCA's chief executive Bob Kerridge, for one, is not impressed. The education campaign is merely "delaying the inevitable", he says. He is probably right. There seems something inexorable about a ban on private fireworks. Most similar countries have tighter control than us and, like smoking in bars, we will probably look back in wonder that it was once permitted. Most people - certainly if they have household pets - will be not miss the fiery nights, but a little of life would be lost.

If a ban is inevitable it is probably a sign of an ageing population. Parents of young families still relish the pleasure they can all have with fireworks on a couple of nights a year. But it lasts only a few years before the children are teenagers and either outgrow the thrill or would sooner seek it with friends than family. Very quickly, the young parent joins the ranks of the worried or the curmudgeons, usually without much cause.

It is easy to document the fire call-outs and accidents resulting from careless use of fireworks each year - last year there were 1867 such blazes nationwide over a 10-day period that fireworks were on sale, and 1200 calls to the police. The SPCA can cite injured pets. But it is much harder to measure the pleasure that children and young families have found in fireworks over the same period.

Last year there was a 40 per cent rise in sales, which suggests interest in fireworks is not waning. As worrying as the tally of fires and accidents last year may be, nobody has suggested it amounts to a 40 per cent rise on previous years. The mishaps are probably a tiny proportion of the fireworks detonated at this time of year. Parliament considered a ban in 1994 and again in 1996 but decided better of it and settled for restrictions on household sales instead.

If fireworks enthusiasts do not want another round of restrictions next year, says Mr Benson-Pope, they will have to heed his message over the next two weeks. Importers and retailers have an obvious incentive to reinforce that warning, and perhaps introduce some voluntary restraint. Probably the age at which young people can buy fireworks should be a little higher than 14, set by Parliament 10 years ago. With common sense and tolerance on all sides, we can surely continue to have some fun.