What a shame that the hazards of fireworks are not being given the serious attention warranted. I was hoping that a new broom would clean out this dangerous activity at last; but it seems like things will not change much and that the people who live in areas where factories are located will have to live on tenterhooks for quite a while yet.
The rest of us can look forward to yet another summer of deafening, early morning “raids”, coping with terrified children and animals, and giving up on any prospect of weekend siestas, or an occasional early night.
Unfortunately, as predicted, the public has a very short attention span, which flits like a butterfly from one scandal to the next.
Following comments on line is instructive on what people react to and what diverts them from one topic to another, blissfully forgetting that the first topic has not been resolved.
The Naxxar tragedy in mid-March attracted a considerable amount of shocked contributions. But a feature by George Cini in The Times on April 7, informing us that the Vittoriosa parish and the organising committee of special feasts were to hold back on pyrotechnic displays and instead use the money to present a deeper insight into the significance of the feast of St Lawrence from a historical and literary standpoint, only got one comment: from me!
An enlightened and altruistic gesture that should set an example, which hopefully all parishes will follow, went by almost unnoticed. We are so quick to criticise, yet not so quick to praise.
So I shall give credit to Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici for setting the ball rolling for harsher penalties for anyone caught manufacturing or handling (I presume, including storing) fireworks illegally.
He also specified that the amended legislation would include involuntary homicide if deaths resulted through the illegality, as on March 12. But, he seems to have lost his momentum after the initial excitement of getting his first Ministry.
First of all, it is not only the illegal activity that poses serious problems and legislation needs to be urgently amended to cover the whole sector, and that is where the Minister must do more.
He started off well and seemed to suggest that he would do a better job then his predecessor, but the details on the latest news, of an inspection unit being set up to monitor the sector, shows a lack of serious commitment in dealing with the problem.
Having fireworks enthusiasts on the team just will not work, experience has shown us that the sector is incapable of monitoring itself.
The Times’ Mark Micallef reported, on Friday, that an informed source said: “No factory is going to allow an enthusiast, even remotely associated with a rival factory, in to inspect its fireworks.”
So that is obviously a non-starter.
I know that the Minister has not had much time, and has been lumped with a problem which has been grossly mishandled, but he needs to show that things are going to be done differently.
Although he is trying to get started on at least one of the recommendations of the previously ignored 2004 report, he is dreaming if he thinks that he can get the unit up and running, not to mention results, by early June in time for the festa season.
In the meantime, current legislation on noise and distances need to be updated, so that the police can start taking action and bring offenders to book as soon as possible.
The 2004 report had identified three factories, which do not operate according to the basic safety specifications. We do not have to wait for an inspection team to start working for that situation to be addressed. The government has already got two reports spelling out where the problems are and what needs to be done.
Instead of seeing serious action, we now wait for a monitoring team to be interviewed and finally start working (if enough people apply) when the legislation to back them up is still not updated.
And when and if this eventually happens will this team have the authority to enforce the law as well as inspect? Or shall we be witnessing the same old “pass the buck” game and their reports being ignored with nobody taking direct responsibility?
If the Minister is serious about making a move on checking where fireworks are launched from, he does not need to wait for the team to be set up (applications have not even be received yet).
He should instruct the police to be as vigilant and responsive as they were after the March tragedy.
For example, the papers publish a number of letters like the following: “How many times has the Gozo Diocese and Gozo Police allowed fireworks close to the Sannat school with the school being peppered with unexploded petards?” The question was rhetorical because the writer had repeatedly reported the problem and had been told off for wasting police time.
And this week we hear that the MUT has had to close down a newly astro-turfed playground because, like three schools in Naxxar, it is too close to a Lija fireworks factory and that the area adjacent to the school grounds are being used to launch aerial fireworks.
It seems unbelievable to me that it has only come to light now that a fireworks factory is situated near schools. The recent tragedy and ensuing public outrage involving firework storage has raised awareness, but even so there has been enough publicity about the dangers posed by explosives in residential areas well before that.
It is not as though we have never had a factory explode here before the last tragedy. We have read and seen enough news bulletins about the dangers of explosives.
Of course it is right that the teacher’s union is concerned, and something must be done about this unacceptable situation; but why has it taken the MUT so long to address the problem and bring the attention to the Education Minister?
Minister Dolores Cristina was made aware of the problem by a letter from the head of school, Horace Caruana, on April 4.
The letter referred to foreign students who use the school premises in summer and are at risk during the local festa days when fireworks are set off.
It also claimed that a red flag on the building further demonstrates that fireworks are being manufactured on a regular basis during school hours.
The Minister replied on April 15 saying, “The matter would be thoroughly investigated so that the concerns of all may be addressed”.
She said she had forwarded the letter sent by the school authorities to Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, requesting that the matter be discussed between the two ministries and that an imminent meeting was scheduled.
A member of the St Michael’s factory (the one involved) Joseph Mangion has claimed that the factory was built in 1925 and the schools were constructed in the late 1950s.
However, the amount and variety of explosives used in the late 1940s and early 1950s was nowhere near what is used today; so the risk, although with hindsight still existed, was not on the same scale. That is why it is crucial that legislation is updated to keep up with current practices.
In the meantime, an action committee made up of students, teachers, parents and residents is planned with a view to putting a stop to the operations of this factory.
And the MUT is asking the authorities to ascertain that there is no risk whatsoever to the safety of staff and students at this and neighbouring schools.
Politicians have for too long neglected the public good and pandered to strong lobbies citing “tradition”, but the chickens are coming home to roost.
It is now up to Dolores Christina, who has proved to be an able Social Services minister in the previous administration, and Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, in his first ministerial job, to turn the tide and restore public confidence that safety takes precedence over tradition.

pamelapacehansen@gmail.com