A fire triggered an explosion at a fireworks storage facility in a residential part of Enschede, killing 23 and injuring 947. 13 May 2000 - Credit: Bartflikweert / Wikimedia Commons - License: CC-BY-SA

Thursday, 27 June 2024 - 17:50

Members of Parliament want ban on storage of fireworks in residential areas

Politicians sitting in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament, called for national regulations to ban the storage of consumer fireworks in residential areas. The Cabinet needs to address the issue, according to a motion from GroenLinks-Pvda MP Songül Mutluer.

Mutluer’s motion referenced a University of Twente study into consumer fireworks, that found that 405 locations in residential neighborhoods in the Netherlands are used to store up to 10,000 kilograms of consumer-grade fireworks. That weight is the maximum distributors can stock in one location without a permit.

The report was released nearly 24 years after the Enschede fireworks disaster. Some 900 kilograms of fireworks stored by S.E. Fireworks ignited in an unknown manner, setting off a chain reaction that led to a massive explosion at around 3 p.m. on 13 May 2000. The incident killed 23 people, including four firefighters, and injured 947 others. An entire neighborhood was wiped out.

The motion noted the researchers’ conclusions about the possibility of a mass explosion in the event of a fire. This is possible “even if the fireworks storage complies with all current rules,” the motion stated. Mutluer also mentioned Dutch firefighters who now modify their response to fires when an incident involves fireworks, taking a defensive position.

“We can safely stand a kilometer or 500 meters away. But then we cannot reach the fire with the truck,” said volunteer firefighter Marcel Dokter after the report was released at the end of March. “We are probably going to put out the fire anyway. We are going to try and help those people. And that is very dangerous.”

The adopted motion “calls on the Cabinet, in consultation with the municipalities, to develop regulations as quickly as possible to phase out the storage of consumer fireworks from residential areas.” Her motion was co-signed by PVV MP Max Aardema, NSC MP Jesse Six Dijkstra, SP MP Michiel van Nispen, and CDA MP Derk Boswijk.

The parties combine for 92 seats in the Tweede Kamer. Six Dijkstra noted that people should still be allowed to store their own legal fireworks for personal use.

Aardema also submitted his own motion about the Twente study, which was adopted. It called on the Cabinet to “investigate whether the distance between stocks of over 10,000 kilograms of consumer fireworks are at a sufficiently safe distance from local residents if the fireworks supply ignited in a mass explosion.”