NEWS photo Terry Peters

WEST VANCOUVER Police schoo! liaison officer Cnst. Harry
McNeil poses with some of the dangerous tiomemade tireworks
_paraphernaiia that surfaces during the Halloween celebrations.

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The fireworks fascination

Fire officials stress dangers of firecrackers

FIREWORKS AT Halloween have become a tradition. But
their history is rooted in a violent plot against the British

Parliament in 1605.

Guy Fawkes and other conspir-
ators were plotting to blow up the
British House of Parliament with
36 barrels of gunpowder. They
were Roman Catholics acting in
retaliation of severe penal laws af-
fecting members of their faith.

Luckily, the scheme was expos-
ed at the eleventh hour. But the
day (Nov. 5) came to be celebrat-
ed in Britain as a thanksgiving
service. Bonfires were lit and
fireworks set off in a show of pa-
triotism.

Today’s Halloween merges
pagan, Christian and this histori-
cal element. Fireworks are still a
popular way to celebrate the onset
of winter.

But, while the brillient sound
and colors of a fireworks display
are wonderful to hear and watch,
local fire departments want the
public to use fireworks safely.
And legally.

Despite their popping presence

on the North Shore as the bewit-
approaches,
firecrackers are illegal in all of
B.C.
Capt. Gavin Soanes of the
North Vancouver City Fire
Department stresses that ‘‘you
can’t set firecrackers off anywhere
in the province.’’ ,

And, despite their size,
firecrackers are not ‘‘harmless.”
On the contrary, firecrackers have
caused serious injuries such as
burns, disfigurement, and perma-

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PATTERNS

eletbernaet en avarmee natant

CLAND Vaiss

By Barbara Black
News Reporter

nent hearing and vision Joss.

According to the B.C. Society
of Eye Physicians and Surgeons,
each year in North America be-
tween 10,000 and 15,000 victims
of fireworks-related injuries are
treated in hospital emergency
Tooms.

Fire officials are trying to
educate the public to reduce these
incidents. .\ new video called Just
a Firecracker, which outlines the
dangers of firecrackers, is being
used in local elementary and high
schools. And the Fire Commis-
sioner of B.C. is considering one
provincial regulation for
fireworks, rather than all the
various municipal bylaws.

Although firecrackers, classified

as ‘thigh hazard explosives,"’ are
illegal, certain fireworks are per-
mitted, as outlined in the respec-
tive municipal bylaws.
@In North Vancouver City,
which has the strictest reguiations,
“family packs’? of fireworks are
legal.

To purchase a family pack, you
must be over 18 years of age and
have written permission of the fire
chief. The display must be attend-
ed by a fireworks supervisor
holding a fireworks supervisor
certificate from the Depariment of

Pen
UCHAEAET .

4¢ Despite their
popping presence on
the North Shore as
the bewitching hour
approaches,
Sirecrackers are illegal
in all of BC.9s

Energy Mines and Resources. The
four-hour course is offered in ear-
ly October each year. :

People selling or buying

fireworks who break these regula-
tions are subject to a fine and
possibie charges.
@ In North and West Vancouver
districts fireworks are available
for purchase only between Oct. 24
and Nov. 1 and only by persons
over the age of 18 (WV) or 19
(NVD). The fireworks permitted
and sold at focal retailers are
those classified as low hazard or
**family’’ fireworks.

Fireworks of this classification
may be used on the purchaser’s
private property. No person can
conduct a public (i.e. not on your
private property) display of
fireworks without written permis-
sion 2: the respective fire depart-

See NV page 46

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