106-percent hike in blazes started by fireworks, but no casualties

Fireworks and firecrackers caused almost 200 blazes across the capital during this year's Spring Festival celebrations, a 106-percent increase on figures for 2010.

Emergency authorities, however, said no casualties were reported, while roughly 70 percent of incidents between Feb 2 and 7 occurred in suburbs outside the Fifth Ring Road.

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"The dry weather played an important role in the fires," Gao Feng, a press officer with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Fire Prevention, told METRO. The capital has seen no rainfall since last October - 106 days - and meteorologists predict the drought will continue for at least another week.

"The bureau will put more forces into suburban areas next year, on condition the safety of the dense city center is guaranteed," said Gao, who added that residents' "growing passion for fireworks" also contributed to the increase in fires.

Between Feb 2 and 8, two people died and 409 were injured in accidents involving fireworks and firecrackers, according to a statement issued by the city's health bureau.

Doctors were forced to remove one victim's eyeballs, while another patient had a limb amputated. Another 13 people are still receiving hospital treatment, with the youngest just 2 years old, read the statement.

"Children under 14 should never set off fireworks or firecrackers," Lu Hai, director of the ocular trauma division at Tongren Hospital, told Mirror Evening News in an earlier interview. He said children lack safety knowledge and can easily get hurt due to their "slow reactions".

The number of people injured by fireworks rose almost 13 percent on 2010, although the deaths, which occurred in Shunyi and Pinggu districts, northeast of the city center, were the first reported in the capital for six years.

In 2004, when setting off fireworks inside the Fifth Ring Road was banned, two died from using illegal fireworks on Spring Festival eve. "The two deaths this year were also caused by illegal products," said Gao.

Fireworks are categorized from "A" to "D" based on their size and the amount of gunpowder they contain ("A" is the most dangerous). Residents in Beijing are only allowed to set off category C and D fireworks.

"Illegal types are not on sale in the city but they're not hard to find in adjacent provinces," added Gao.