Opinion

Regulation needed to make bonfires safer

While some groups and individuals tend to portray attempts to regulate bonfires as an attack on loyalist culture, they often overlook or dismiss the very real safety risks associated with ever larger pyres sited in close proximity to property.

Last year witnessed an especially dangerous incident when a huge bonfire threatened an apartment block in the Sandy Row area of Belfast.

It was only thanks to the strenuous efforts of firefighters that the flames did not reach the building although the intense heat cracked windows and left residents terrified.

Recent years have also seen houses in the lower Shankill set alight and destroyed by sparks from a bonfire while homes and businesses in different parts of the north have to be boarded up to prevent damage each Eleventh Night.

Every year concerns are expressed about towering pyres and the potential danger they pose but now Northern Ireland Fire Service inspection reports reveal the extent and nature of the issues encountered by officers.

Information contained in the reports will add to the sense that safety is not being given the priority it deserves by bonfire builders.

In one case, fire officers attended the bonfire site at Kitchener Street, Donegall Road along with Belfast City Council officials, local representatives and Phoenix Gas.

The fire service asked the builders to move the bonfire to a safer site away from gas mains and houses, 'but this was rejected.'

Phoenix Gas then had to shut the underground gas supply off at either end of the bonfire site.

This is just one example of the alarming disregard for the safety of local residents shown by those constructing bonfires.

Further instances of fires being built near electricity substations or close to oil tanks or asbestos roofing are also noted.

The fire service points out that it has no enforcement powers in relation to bonfires.

However, the list of potential hazards that officers have identified serves to underline the importance of some form of regulation which helps to protect lives and property.