Warning: Don’t release Chinese lanterns
While lovely to look at, the release of Chinese lanterns into the air are considered a “disaster” for the National See Rescue Institute (NSRI), because they are often mistaken for distress flares.
Not only that, these lanterns can even be more disastrous to wildlife, because it can cause run-away veld fires as well as set bird nests alight.
It is for these reasons that Cape Town has recently issued a by-law prohibiting the release of Chinese lanterns or any object that may set a fire, endangering residents and the environment. According to the NSRI’S media spokesperson Craig Lambinon they welcome the new legislation.
On an online news page, dated Monday, November 10, Lambinon said that NSRI crew had to respond to seven ‘false’ reports of red distress flares over the ocean from concerned eyewitnesses, over the past year. Upon each report, the NSRI had to send rescue teams out “to rescue the distressed victims”, only to find out that Chinese lanterns had in fact caused the confusion.
Lambinon explained, “While a Chinese lantern rises up into the air when it is lit, creating an orange light that disappears as soon as the flame is extinguished or the lantern burns out, a distress flare ignites at the top of the arch and then drops.”
While many people argue that they are careful and only launch Chines lanterns when the wind can take it out to sea, everyone knows how fast the wind can change direction and before you know it, the lanterns float towards vegetation and trees and can cause fires in an instant.