Historically some of our most popular blog articles have been those that have looked at when fireworks have been in the news throughout the previous few months. For 2018 we’ve dropped our previous habit of reviewing every three months, but as we head into firework season it’s time to look at how fireworks have been in the news so far in 2018.
As we cover things like Fourth of July celebrations, Firework Champions, and other competitions and firework-specific events, we don’t include these in our news reviews, but you can find out all about those elsewhere across our blog.
Let’s see when and how fireworks have hit the headlines in 2018 so far.
24 Killed in Mexico Fireworks Explosion
It’s a sad reality of fireworks that when they’re not in the news outside of major events such as New Year’s Eve, Chinese New Year, and Fourth of July, it’s because there’s been a tragedy or a criminal act involving them.
An explosion in Tutlepec, Mexico, in July 2018 saw 24 fatalities including one who was just seven years old. Tutlepec has a long tradition of manufacturing fireworks and host an annual fireworks festival.
Sadly, this explosion wasn’t the first time that Tutlepec has been impacted in such a way, with a 2016 explosion killing an estimated 36 people and a 2005 explosion leading to many serious injuries.
CNN covered this year’s tragedy here.
Men Suffer the Majority of Fireworks Injuries
In the run up to Fourth of July, The Conversation published an excellent article highlighting a number of statistics around fireworks usage in the United States.
While there were many notable findings, the most striking to us was that of all reported fireworks injuries, 70% of them were suffered by men, although the split was 60/40 in the 25 – 44 age group, which was the most popular in terms of firework usage.
You can read The Conversation article and check out the statistics for yourself here.
Challenges for the Chinese Fireworks Industry
If you’re a fan of the history of fireworks, you’ll know all about China being the birthplace of fireworks and the huge influence the country had and still has on the global fireworks industry today.
Followers of our Facebook page will also know about our annual visits to China and the great time we have each time we visit.
There are challenges afoot at present, however, for the fireworks industry in China.
As the Chinese government looks at ways of dealing with the country’s well publicised air pollution issue, fireworks have come under scrutiny, with Reuters reporting in February 2018 that fireworks had been banned in 444 cities across the country, with plans for more to follow.
The ban led to a huge decrease in fireworks sales, and while the impact on the national economy was described as being “a drop in the ocean”, there is concern that it could have a major impact in local areas, with locations like Liuyang, which is mentioned in the article, seeing a huge impact due to the reliance of the local economy on the fireworks trade.
You can read the original article here.