Above: A sky lantern, a paper-and-bamboo balloon with a wax fuel source at the bottom, being released in England in 2010. Photo by Flickr user Keith Williamson.
Revelers at summer gatherings in the Catskills are sending flaming airborne balloons over their neighbors, some of whom aren't happy about it.
The spent remains of the pretty tissue-paper lanterns, which are lit and then released into the air on still summer nights, have been raining down on Cobleskill resident Fred Dudash's home this summer, according to the Schoharie Times-Journal:
Someone northwest of his house has been lighting the brightly-colored lanterns and sending them on their way, he said; both he and neighbors have found them hanging in trees and in their yards and Monday he displayed a trash bag of deflated purple, orange, green and red lanterns.
"It's a potential disaster with a definite loss of life," he warned, should the lanterns light a home, the school, or nearby woods and fields on fire.
Calling the lanterns, which are typically lit at celebrations like weddings, "eye-candy without the responsibility," Mr. Dudash added, "Unless you're God, you can't control where the wind takes them."
Officials of the town and village of Cobleskill are considering whether to ban the sky lanterns, some of which seem to be coming from weddings being held at the local Best Western. In the meantime, according to the Times-Journal, regulation of the lanterns is a local code enforcement issue.
Sky lanterns can wreak havoc. In July 2013, a sky lantern set 10,000 tons of plastic ablaze after landing at a recycling plant in the United Kingdom. In July 2011, a fire balloon burned 800 acres of land in North Carolina.
The lanterns can also harm livestock. Last year, a British cow died after eating the remains of a sky lantern that landed in her field.
Some entire countries have banned sky lanterns, and they are prohibited in many U.S. states. Last year, the National Association of State Fire Marshals adopted a resolution calling for state bans on the lanterns, according to USA Today. The Boy Scouts of America have banned any use of sky lanterns during official scouting events.
Correction: Although it would be awesome if there were such a thing as the "United Kingston," it was a typo and doesn't exist. Love the quips coming from the commenters about the "People's Republic of Saugerties."
