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Disastrous fire at Krefeld Zoo in Germany

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January 02, 2020, 05:10 AM
tacfoley
Disastrous fire at Krefeld Zoo in Germany
https://news.sky.com/story/ger...krefeld-zoo-11898973

Probably caused by flying fireworks called Chinese lanterns that are prohibited in most of Europe because of fire risk [no kidding?].

Heartbreaking stuff, folks, especially reading this - "The new gorilla enclosure has become beautiful and in 2020 an outdoor enclosure for the orangutans was planned and for the chimpanzee forest is also being built. All this is no longer necessary."

Not mentioned here, but on the news, was the fact that many of the animals who were killed were from already endangered species.

So how do you go about investigating this and apportioning blame?

This being Germany, somebody is going to suffer, that's for sure. Germans laws seem to work on the absolute - for instance, there is no such thing as a traffic accident, per se, although they use word 'unfall' to describe it. The incident it will be invariably found to have been the result of breaking one or other or more of the traffic laws.

In this instance, the law was clearly broken, but by whom?
January 02, 2020, 05:15 AM
Elk Hunter
Yeah, that would seem to be the question.

If I understood correctly the fire was apparently started by those flying lanterns?


Elk

There has never been an occasion where a people gave up their weapons in the interest of peace that didn't end in their massacre. (Louis L'Amour)

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. "
-Thomas Jefferson

"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis de Tocqueville

FBHO!!!



The Idaho Elk Hunter
January 02, 2020, 05:39 AM
tacfoley
I have just been informed that those responsible have handed themselves in.
January 02, 2020, 05:48 AM
Elk Hunter
That is good news. At least they had the intestinal fortitude to do what was right.

To bad they had not acquired some intelligence much earlier in their lives.


Elk

There has never been an occasion where a people gave up their weapons in the interest of peace that didn't end in their massacre. (Louis L'Amour)

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. "
-Thomas Jefferson

"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis de Tocqueville

FBHO!!!



The Idaho Elk Hunter
January 02, 2020, 05:53 AM
Marlin Fan
quote:
Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
That is good news. At least they had the intestinal fortitude to do what was right.


I doubt that would have here happened in the USA.
January 02, 2020, 07:00 AM
tacfoley
From another site -

Entire countries have banned the use of sky lanterns, including Argentine, Austria, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Spain, Germany and parts of Canada. In the USA, bans include Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Other states, including Kansas and Missouri and the New York Division of Fire Prevention and Control, are also looking into adopting changes to fire codes to regulate the use of sky lanterns.
January 02, 2020, 07:24 AM
KMitch200
Is a sky lantern those homemade “hot air balloons” using plastic and candles?


--------
After the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box.
January 02, 2020, 08:33 AM
arfmel
Yes.
They are also available ready made.
January 02, 2020, 09:47 AM
Mars_Attacks
There's a photo of one of the lanterns here.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world...JNR7rPEAafzm3zwmGH28


It looks commercially made.


____________________________

Eeewwww, don't touch it!
Here, poke at it with this stick.
January 02, 2020, 11:32 AM
Pipe Smoker
“German police suspect a mother and her two adult daughters of having caused a deadly zoo fire by releasing illegal sky lanterns on New Year's Eve.

The blaze killed more than 30 animals, including rare apes and monkeys, in the western city of Krefeld.

Police say they have questioned the three women, local residents who are said to be "extremely sorry".

They allegedly did not realise that the lanterns - bought on the internet - were banned in Germany…”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50971250



Serious about crackers.
January 02, 2020, 12:51 PM
corsair
Idiots.

There's a reason why sky lanterns originated in tropical, very wet, near oceanic locations. There isn't a danger of crazy fires getting started.
January 02, 2020, 02:30 PM
Fla. Jim
quote:
Originally posted by Marlin Fan:
quote:
Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
That is good news. At least they had the intestinal fortitude to do what was right.


I doubt that would have here happened in the USA.

Perhaps not, but don't paint us all with that Tar brush. Why automatically think we are not as responsible as the Germans??
January 02, 2020, 09:45 PM
Icabod
quote:
Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
“They allegedly did not realise that the lanterns - bought on the internet - were banned in Germany…”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50971250


Seems they complained that the instructions that came with the lanterns did not mention that they were illegal in Germany.



“ The work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation is slow, laborious and dull.
January 03, 2020, 02:19 AM
BansheeOne
Illegal in several German states, but not throughout. And in fairness, it's hard to keep track of all the bans here. I dimly remember we once set some of these things off at home, probably way before they showed up on public radar as a hazard. Of course a little thinking would result in realizing that it's inadvisable to use them in densely populated areas, and I guess after this event a) the rest of the states will ban them too, and b) less people will be ignorant of that.

Stereotyping people who would use them though, I suspect they feel genuinely terrible about what happened, and at least did the right thing in coming forward.
January 03, 2020, 10:49 AM
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I have a neighbor that shoots roman candles onto roofs of houses during holidays. There is no amount of stupid.


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