Fire at CKS Airport

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

[quote]A sky lantern descended on a grassy border area near the northbound runway of the CKS International Airport in Taoyuan last night, sparking a huge fire that forced airport authorities to temporarily close both the northbound and southbound runways.

According to the Dayuan (大園) police station, the fire was caused by a sky lantern that fell at around 7pm last night.

The fire forced many inbound airplanes into a holding pattern as firefighters battled to put out the blaze.

“The fire’s point of origin was on the grassland near the northbound runway,” the police station said.

Police officials said that they were not sure where the lantern came from.

“Due to strong winds, we are still investigating which direction the sky lantern was from,” they said.

Lantern Festival was celebrated nationwide yesterday.

One common tradition during the festival is the launching of huge sky lanterns to bring good luck to loved ones.

Police urged the public to be more cautious when lighting and launching sky lanterns
[/quote]

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/02/13/2003292809

That would freak me out if you were landing to the airport into that mess. I can understand the tradition but talk about a fire hazard!

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I watched a burnt-out lantern land in rush-hour traffic the other day, and it could easily have caused a driver to panic and swerve, or brake and cause a pile-up. I’ve always wondered how many fires they start. :loco:

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You’d think they’d have an exclusion zone around airports. Imagine if you are a foreign pilot on approach at CKS (which in all probability you would be) and see a flying ball of fire through the cockpit window.
It’s things like this that cause confusion and distraction which lead to things like aeroplanes in fields.

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Funnily enough (or perhaps not quite so funnily for those involved), there was a report on the radio this morning that a motorist had flipped his car when he swerved to avoid a burning sky lantern that came plunging down in front of him. The report added that no one in the car was seriously hurt.

5

the words “Taiwanese” and “aviation” never fail to bring chills down my spine when used in the same sentence… If it took them that long to put out a pissy little grassfire (why is there enough general fire hazard type grass left lying about unkempt in an airport anyway?) imagine their response time to say a burning plane on the runway… :astonished: :help: :loco:

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I was in a plane that sat in Hong Kong for an hour thanks to that lantern. Stupid tradition.

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[quote=“JadeEmpirePlaya”][quote]

Police urged the public to be more cautious when lighting and launching sky lanterns
[/quote][/quote]

Hilarious…

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I was in a plane from HK that had to turn around thanks to that lantern. Seriously buhaowan. End of an awful day’s flying from Melbourne. Loads of pissed-off smelly people all threatening to use there mobile phones mid-flight. Quite delirious by the end of it all. And the extra inflight snack didn’t make it any better at all!

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[quote=“irishstu”][quote=“JadeEmpirePlaya”][quote]

Police urged the public to be more cautious when lighting and launching sky lanterns
[/quote][/quote]

Hilarious…[/quote]

beat me to it!

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The non-degradable carcases of those fucking things are all over the place down at Bitan. Stupid fucks kept stting them off even though they could see perfectly well that most of them were being blown straight into the neighboring buildings.
Brain-dead, mouth-breathing fucktards, the lot of them. :fume:

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[quote]
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/02/13/2003292809

That would freak me out if you were landing to the airport into that mess. I can understand the tradition but talk about a fire hazard![/quote]

Incredible. I thought about that when I watched some sky laterns near my home yesterday on Guangfu Road, First Section in Hsinchu. One of them crashed into a building a went up in a fireball. Anyone else saw this (around Lane 525)?

Most people don’t take fireworks/fires/electricity serious here I guess.

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That is a very frightening photo… WTF?!

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yet another reason for them ugly cages outside our windows…to keep the fire out!

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N O F O R E S I G H T. I’ve said it long ago, and I’m saying it again.

3 years ago, was my first Lantern Festival in Taiwan. My co-workers took me to this village outside of Taipei, which I was told was the biggest place of festivities for this particular annual festival. Apparently people from all over the island come there to meet up each year.

Indeed, TENS of THOUSANDS of people were ram packed into the streets (just the line up for a bus back into Taipei was several hours long, and at least a kilometre in length at the time I was waiting).

I immediately sensed a fear for my life. It felt like being in a riot. It was nearly impossible to move as there were so many people around. Thousands of lanterns were continuously being set off into the skies, and guess what I wondered? What happens if they come down aflame?! I noticed that all around, were mountains with grass and forests. Perfectly flammable.

Then I realized there were too many people, which could easily spark a stampede of panic, leaving people potentially trampeled.

Indeed, as the night went on, common sights of landed burning lanterns (such as shown in the photo below), were common.

Not only that, but amidst the tightly woven crowds, people still had the audacity to set off those strings of endless series of firecrackers! People’s kids were nearly getting limbs ripped off!

That lantern at CKS could have come from ANYWHERE. There is no way to guess which way the wind might carry it. It doesn’t matter how close or far from CKS they were. I am glad it happened (glad no one got hurt). I hope this reeks into world news and loses some people ‘face’.

Foresight and precaution should tell any sane person that sending a fire into the wind, will surely spark a chance of random disaster! What goes up, must come down.

15

I used to think sky lanterns looked really cool. Then it occurred to me that those things are basically floating Molotov cocktails. The media was recently all enamored of how beautiful it was to see thousands of lanterns go up at Pingxi

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I was driving home from Taipei yesterday on the civil blvd highway in Taipei and going around a curve saw a lantern right in the middle of the inner lane. Luckily I was in the other lane but someone would have a big, dangerous surprise when they came around the curve and smashed into it. I guess there was no accident as I didnt read about it today.

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[quote=“PoSTMoDeRNFuNK”]N O F O R E S I G H T. I’ve said it long ago, and I’m saying it again.
…
[/quote]

Did I mention that there is a CPC gas station next to the temple where the lantern burst into flames? Fireworks continue today as I’m writing this email. If you see a big crater on TV tommorow and there is no messages from me you know what happend.

During the day it looks like this (same angle):

[/img]

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I think it is worth pointing out here that most of the lanterns come down because the fire has gone out. Only a small percentage of those that come down actually come down burning.

What gets me is that the Taiwanese have done the same thing year after year after year with little consequence. I don’t know how they get away with it, but they do. :idunno:

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[quote=“Dangermouse”]I think it is worth pointing out here that most of the lanterns come down because the fire has gone out. Only a small percentage of those that come down actually come down burning.

What gets me is that the Taiwanese have done the same thing year after year after year with little consequence. I don’t know how they get away with it, but they do. :idunno:[/quote]

No big disasters yet it seems but I’m sure there are many incidents where people get burned or things go up in flames (maybe the reporters aren’t fast enough). In Beijing there was a stampede last year killing 34 during the lantern festival. I think one needs to get some statistics from firefighters/hospitals to be certain what is really going on :slight_smile:

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Welcome to post-modern humanity.
Launching floating garbage in the sky… pathetic…
Tradition or not, it still remains POLUTION (air and land and/or see)