Thousands sign petition to stop Derbyshire sky lantern festival

Thousands of people have signed a petition to stop a major sky lantern festival from going ahead in Derbyshire amid a heightened risk of wildfires.

The huge sky-lantern event is set to commence in the Peak District near moorland and has been slammed by opponents as irresponsible.

The Lights Fest, organised by a US company which promises families to "ignite their personalised sky lanterns with Tiki torches and let them take flight," is due to be held at Buxton Raceway, Derbyshire on 28 July.

The petition currently has over 9,000 signatories as of July 4th and says that "allowing this event to go ahead is dangerous and irresponsible, as the risk of starting further fires is extremely high".

The petition asks the public and local MPs to garner support to get the event cancelled.

The Peak District National Park has released a statement, saying the risk of fires from sky lanterns will be "lethal" to local wildlife and the environment.

"We would like to see the Lights Festival stopped. As a National Park, we do not support the release of sky lanterns due to the potential impacts on wildlife and livestock, however our primary concern is now the risk of fire that is increased with the release of thousands of lanterns so close to the Peak District National Park boundary," the statement said.

"Although the lanterns are claimed to be biodegradable and with a short burn period, there is no further detail provided on this, and by their very nature, the travel and final location of lanterns remains indiscriminate.

The Park added: "To release thousands of naked flames into the sky when hundreds of firefighters and others are still battling flames in already tough conditions on the ground seems to go against all common sense."

Sky lantern danger

It follows recent moorland and gorse fires seen throughout the UK during the ongoing heatwave, most notably at Saddleworth Moor, Winter Hill and Glenshane Pass, Northern Ireland.

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue are now in talks with the event organisations to cancel it from going ahead. The Derbyshire Events Safety Advisory Group has also expressed concerns.

The public and the local farming industry in Dumfries and Galloway successfully put a stop to a Lights Fest sky lantern event last month.

It was due to take place on the Springkell estate near Lockerbie in September, but it attracted heavy criticism from local farmers, who said the timing of the event was particularly bad since harvest would be under way.

The farming industry has frequently warned of the damage the sky lanterns bring to livestock health and farm buildings, which pose a threat as a dangerous fire hazard.