Mayors call for national fireworks ban over New Year's

Mayors and municipalities want a general fireworks ban to apply for the end of the year. The Security Council advocated this in a letter sent to caretaker Security Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus on Thursday evening. The parties want a ban on both the sale and the lighting of fireworks.

Last New Year's, there was such a total ban because of the coronavirus crisis. The intent was to prevent extra pressure on healthcare due to fireworks incidents, on top of the high pressure caused by the pandemic. According to the mayors and the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), the current pressure on healthcare and staff is reason enough for a national ban this year.

In addition, the number of contacts between people must be limited due to the increasing number of infections, according to the mayors and VNG. New Year's and the lighting of fireworks cause the opposite behavior. This year's goal should be that the New Year is celebrated in small groups to reduce the number of coronavirus infections. An one-off ban of fireworks can help prevent healthcare overload, the mayors and VNG said to Grapperhaus.

The fireworks ban can also count on support from the Dutch Association of Trauma Surgery. It believes that "any government measure that can prevent a demand for acute care" is welcome. The trauma surgeons point out that in recent years an average of 400 people needed emergency care, and about 800 people visited the GP because of fireworks injuries. Last year's fireworks ban prevented 70 percent of emergency room visits during the turn of the year, the surgeons quoted research by VeiligheidNL.

Earlier on Thursday, it was announced that the caretaker Cabinet is leaning towards not announcing a national ban this New Year's. Not only the Security Council, which consists of a delegation of Dutch mayors, but nurses also said that they were not happy with that intention. On the other hand, the fireworks industry breathed a "sigh of relief," the chairman said.