Watch out for those Chinese made fireworks…
03 Jul 2008
Not only are they illegal to set off here in Ohio but…they could be dangerous:
This week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a report saying it found that nearly half of the shipments they inspected coming from China do not meet Federal safety guidelines. That’s especially worrying since, according the American Pyrotechnic Association, 98 percent of fireworks used in backyards and front lawns across America are manufactured in China. NEWSWEEK’s Caitlin McDevitt spoke with Scott Wolfson, a chief spokesman for the Commission about its findings and why this Independence Day could be more volatile than in previous years.
More tips from the American Pyrotechnic Association.
Something that explodes is not safe?
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 pmSurely you jest.
I do believe that ALL fireworks you can buy are made in China!
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pmI know Joe, shocking isn’t it?
Sepp, I think there are still some made in the US, if you look at the amount of revenue US companies has made it’s pretty amazing at the increase. Black Cat and Diamond Sparkler are both US companies.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 pmBlack Cat – http://www.blackcatfireworks.com/t-history.aspx
“The manufacture and distribution of the Product Line is being managed by Shiu Fung Fireworks, a division on Li & Fung, who is now a $6 billion publicly traded company in Hong Kong. “
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:06 pmdid someone say hong kong?????????? or was it ramon doing king kong AAAAAAAHHHHH EEEEEE AAAAAAAAHHHH EEEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAHHHHH EEEEEEEEEE AAAAAHHHHH EEEEEEEE AAAAAAAHHHHH thats the tarzan call ramon does at the darndest moments HHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEE. pain
July 5th, 2008 at 12:41 amThe Red White and Kaboom – fireworks presentation was very good last night. The finale was too bright – just hot white lights, but still a good show. Congrats to The Andersons and the other PRIVATE ventures who funded it. See – good things happen when Govt. gets out of the way.
We were stuck in a downtown parking garage for an hour for traffic to clear, but all the people were well behaved, and even showed some sense of humor by honking in unison and at times to a rythm for jest.
TAHL
July 5th, 2008 at 9:09 amFireworks in the wrong hands proves once more how dangerous they are. Oh, don’t take my word for it, just ask the 100 homeless people that lived at Hunters Ridge Apartments off Airport Hwy. The fire was started because of those@#$&*! Kaboom’s!
July 5th, 2008 at 9:42 amThe mayor was at the fire scene at 4:30 this morning, stating he was going outlaw these fireworks. I believe there are already Ohio laws against this. Buy all the fireworks you want in Michigan – just don’t light ‘em off in Ohio. So, if there are already laws, what the hell is he going to do? Go ahead and try to enforce an anti-fireworks law! It can’t be done. It would be like rounding up stray cats.
July 5th, 2008 at 10:00 am“Congrats to The Andersons and the other PRIVATE ventures who funded it”
Uh, excuse me, but with all due respect, where do you think they got that money in the first place?
July 5th, 2008 at 10:17 amWhether we are called taxpayers or consumers or customers, it really comes out of our pocket. I’d rather see the PRIVATE corporate greed fat cats stop their “gift” giving and lower their prices.
Mr. Hansen, you probably have a better feel for the inner workings of government than I will ever have. From my experience inside of a greedy corporation there are no actual “gifts”. When a business gives a “gift” there is an expectation of a return. One perfectly legitimate example that I have seen is they do so in exchange for the advertising that is part of promoting the event. The goal of spending money for any type of advertising is to increase the business by an amount greater that the amount spent to generate that business. A second that I have not personally experienced knowingly is they do so with the expectations of receiving preferential treatment, possibly from a government entity such as one that might be putting on a fireworks show. In either case, in a competitive market The Andersons fat cats can’t just increase prices so they can fund a fireworks show. The Andersons don’t sell anything that can’t be purchased elsewhere and their competitors would not allow it.
July 5th, 2008 at 1:19 pmOne of my daughters lives near there, at one time last night they thought they were going to have to leave because if the wind shifted their unit was in danger and at one point they were told to leave because of the possibility of a gas explosion. I just talked to her again a few moments ago and she said the number of people that showed up to gawk or to take pictures, including a few who tore down the fence between the two apartments to see the fire better was pretty disturbing, they would have had a hard time leaving their unit because of the numbers of people who blocked them in that didn’t live there that headed over there to watch. From the sounds of it a few people lost pets in the fire too.
At first they thought their unit was on fire, someone pounded on their door, they woke up and smelled smoke. She checked the door to see if it was hot, saw that it wasn’t then when they went out they discovered it was the building behind them that was on fire.
As to the donation aspect, firework shows done by certified professionals is legal, I’d rather have companies donate money to fund it than for it to come from tax dollars. As consumers if we have an issue with a company we can stop purchasing from them, places like Andersons do have to be competitive, and they do give quite a bit of money to many different causes and functions above and beyond what some of the national chains do.
I’m not sure what the Mayor can do, unless he figures out a way to put more police on the streets. It is already illegal to shoot off fireworks, the problem as we’ve discussed earlier is enforcement.
July 5th, 2008 at 1:25 pmLast night’s fire is a horrible tragedy, but thankfully everyone made it out safe with no major injuries! One can only hope that those that were responsible for setting off the fireworks that caused the fire will be prosecuted to the fullest extent that they can be!
July 5th, 2008 at 2:14 pmAnd we probably will have to watch out for those Chinese-made fluoroscent light bulbs we will have, thanks to our federal government.
July 6th, 2008 at 2:03 pmThe Anderson’s got publicity from their donation. It’s almost the same as buying commercial time.
July 7th, 2008 at 1:48 pm