County Commissioners Support Banning Sky Lanterns
A growing number of communities are banning the use of the
popular sky lanterns over fears that the floating fires could spark unintended
blazes. Sky lanterns are a balloon-shaped piece of paper that typically has a
bamboo frame with a fuel pad at the bottom to provide lift, originated in China
over 1,000 years ago and have become popular in the United States over the last
10-15 years. Sky lanterns, while not classified as fireworks in Michigan, but
rather as aerial candles, can pose a danger to humans, wildlife and livestock
and can cause structure fires as their landing cannot be controlled.
The National Association of State Fire Marshals came out
against the devices two years ago, citing a sky lantern that landed at a
plastic recycling plant and caused $9 million in damages. California, Hawaii,
Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington have passed legislation making use of
sky lanterns illegal and Michigan legislators are also considering taking
action to ban the sky lanterns.
As a result of this, the Bay County Board of Commissioners
unanimously went on the record during their October 13th Board of
Commissioners meeting and voiced their opposition to the use of sky lanterns in
Michigan. The Board calls upon the Michigan legislature to adopt legislation
banning use of sky lanterns in Michigan. A copy of the approved resolution will
be forwarded to our area Legislators, the Michigan Association of Counties and
other Michigan counties urging their support of a ban on the use of sky
lanterns. The resolution was proposed by Commissioners Don Tilley and Mike
Duranczyk.
Click here to view the discussion of the resolution during
the Board of Commissioners meeting.