Over 400 fireworks storage locations located in residential neighborhoods

Nearly half of the Netherlands' fireworks storage locations are in residential neighborhoods. It concerns 405 locations where up to 10,000 kilograms of consumer fireworks are stored among homes spread throughout the Netherlands, EenVandaag reports based on figures from the country’s environmental services.

EenVandaag checked the locations of fireworks warehouses after a fatal explosion and fire in Rotterdam in January. A large part of the emergency services had to focus their initial attention on clearing 4,000 kilograms of fireworks from a nearby storage room before turning their full attention to the fire. In December, firefighters in Driebergen had to work very hard to prevent a fire from spreading to the nearby fireworks storage facility. Partly as a result of this divided attention, four companies burned to the ground, according to the program.

“That is 400 times very dangerous,” Marcel Dokter, a firefighter of the Volunteer Fire Department, told EenVandaag about the fireworks in residential neighborhoods.

The fire department recently changed its guidelines for fighting fires around fireworks storage. They now go on the defensive. “So just evacuate and stay at a great distance. We can safely stand a kilometer or 500 meters away. But then we cannot reach the fire with the truck.” Actually fighting the fire is, therefore, impossible, Dokter told the program. “We are probably going to put out the fire anyway. We are going to try and help those people. And that is very dangerous.”

Rene Torenvlied, a professor of public administration at the University of Twente, studied over 30 years of fireworks research. “We warn that commercial fireworks in storage can still react as a mass explosive in the event of a fire. That means they all go off at once. All at the same time.” The studies also showed the unpredictability of fireworks. Last year, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate warned that 45 percent of tested fireworks had the wrong warning labels on them. “If that classification is incorrect, then you don’t know what to expect,” Torenvlied told EenVandaag.

Currently, fireworks distributors can store up to 10,000 kilograms of consumer fireworks in one location without needing a permit. They do have to report the storage location to the relevant authorities and adhere to several safety requirements. But the requirements don’t always make sense, Torenvlied said. For example, one requirement is that the storage location’s door must be at least 8 meters away from a home, but that does not apply to homes above or behind the facility.

The fire department, Torenvlied, and the security regions all call for stricter requirements for storing fireworks safely. “Society, and therefore also the fire brigade, can no longer trust that the safety and licensing regulations are in line with the actual risks of fireworks in storage. We ask The Hague for accelerated decision-making on fireworks storage. The latest insights from research by the University of Twente should be leading,” the security regions told EenVandaag.

Chairman Frans Köhler of the fireworks industry organization Vuurwerkcheck told EenVandaag that there are other recent studies - which are not included in the University of Twente study - that show that the storage of consumer fireworks is safe in all cases. According to the program, Köhler could not find or share all the studies he referred to. The two he did share were commissioned by a fireworks importer.