The sight of softly glowing sky lanterns lifting off and then slowly fading into the darkness can make a beautiful scene.
"They are like floating candles that illuminate the sky," said Independence Fire Chief Sandy Schiess. She can see how they appeal to emotions for people celebrating weddings or memorializing loved ones.
But the lanterns -- which turn up on Halloween, Christmas, New Year's and Independence Day -- make the people who protect us from fires very nervous.
The lanterns usually are made of thin paper around a wire or bamboo frame and rise as an attached candle or other heat source warms the air inside. They can be small enough to fit in your hand or more than 3 feet across and can stay airborne for a half-hour.
Although people who sell sky lanterns look at it differently, firefighters see the lanterns as balls of flame turned loose to fly who knows where with hope that the flames burn out before they drop to earth.
"We are trying to educate people that these lanterns are not safe," Schiess said.
Fire officials are taking the message to legislators and city officials.
The Independence Fire Department hopes the City Council will soon prohibit sky lanterns while officials push for a statewide ban through the Missouri fire marshal's office.
In Kansas, Johnson County fire officials are relying on education to keep sky lanterns from rising above homes and fields until they can update their fire codes.
"While they look very beautiful -- and I understand the attraction -- it is easy to see that you could have problems," said Jason Rhodes, a spokesman for the Overland Park Fire Department. "These are not something we want used in our city."
Mike Collar, the president of Winco Fireworks Inc. in Prairie Village, said that the fear is overblown. He said some of the worry comes from people who don't realize that the lanterns stay aloft until the flame burns out and all the hot air has escaped.
"It is like any other product. With proper use and education, they are very, very safe, actually," he said. "Unfortunately, some people don't read the instructions."
Collar said that as long as the sky lanterns rise, they don't come down until the flame has burned itself out.
Sky lanterns -- which also go by wish lanterns, balloon lanterns and other names -- have become popular recently with appearances in cartoons, TV shows and movies, including Disney's 2010 animated film "Tangled," said Bob Frazier, the city fire inspector in Independence.
You can't legally launch sky lanterns in Tennessee, Minnesota, California, Virginia and Hawaii. They also are outlawed in Austria, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Spain and Germany, according to a presentation shown to the Independence City Council.
The main reason: Sky lanterns are uncontrolled aerial devices with open flames that the wind can carry anywhere.
"If they land on anything combustible, it is very easy to spread a fire," Rhodes said.
Schiess said that after this year's July Fourth celebrations, some people told firefighters they had stomped out small fires in their yards when the lanterns failed to launch. The summer heat kept the lanterns from rising, but they stayed ignited as they were pushed back to the ground, she said.
Fire officials see the lanterns as a possible year-round threat because they are becoming popular at birthday parties, anniversaries, weddings, family reunions and memorial services.
Earlier this year the Johnson County Fire & Emergency Services Chiefs Association raised concerns over the use of the lanterns and members agreed that each community would look into amending fire codes to ultimately create a countywide ban.
Overland Park Fire Marshal Mark Sweany said that if someone inquires about using sky lanterns for a celebration, officials politely explain their viewpoint.
"Once we talk about it and about the liabilities and the fact there is no control over these flying objects, they understand and we don't discuss it any further," Sweany said.
Fireworks vendors, however, say the lanterns can be a safe part of a celebration.
"If we didn't feel they were safe, we wouldn't be selling them," said Phil Putthoff, the director of sales for Pyro City, an affiliate of Winco Fireworks.
Sellers heard concerns over the safety, but after some testing, they found the sky lanterns work well. And plenty of people were asking for them.
Collar said buyers need to follow instructions and shouldn't launch sky lanterns when it's too windy. Even fireworks shouldn't be shot when the wind is strong, he said.
Two people should launch a sky lantern, making sure it is inflated before they light the flame.
Even if the lantern fails to launch, people can extinguish the fire before it gets out of hand, Collar said.
Olathe Fire Marshal Brad Henson said he didn't know of any fires caused by sky lanterns in his city, but he hopes the lanterns will be banned.
"We know the devices are not completely safe," Henson said. "We are trying to prevent that (a fire caused by a lantern) from happening rather than waiting for something to occur."
Henson agreed that sky lanterns are pretty, but he wants people to realize that once the lanterns disappear from the horizon, there is no control over where or how far they go.
"They were not thought through very well," Henson said. "It is really something we would rather not have been invented."
Copyright 2012 - The Kansas City Star
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
