Dear Editor,
Firefly B.V. being from 2011 the only company on St. Maarten to import and sell consumer fireworks has taken note of the article publisher in The Daily Herald of December 20, 2017, in which the Fire Department announcement that only certain types of fireworks would be allowed to be imported this year due to the passing of Hurricane Irma and the fact that many houses were without roofs.
This concern stems from the fact that Department of VROMI [Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure – Ed.] believes that fireworks that explode in the air can cause the tarpaulins that are still on some houses to catch fire and burn down these houses.
The statement from the Fire Department goes on to say that all the stakeholders, being Firefly B.V. have been informed of these concerns.
When we went to VROMI to submit our hindrance permit documents on October 2, 2017, one of the department’s representatives expressed those concerns.
We did our homework and researched this concern. Our findings was that when fireworks explode approximately 50m up in the air, nothing comes down but dust.
On a subsequent visit to VROMI the acting Prime Minister at the time Mr. Rafael Boasman said he was aware of the situation and would look into it.
At that time Firefly offered to give the PM and others concerned a live or video demonstration that those concerns were unfounded.
Nobody accepted the offer.
It’s unfortunate that the Fire Department without any visible or scientific proof decided to issue a ban on certain items for this year.
Firefly B.V. like any other corporate citizen respects the laws of the land.
When deciding on the ban on these items one must consider that every year we face the possibility that another hurricane might strike our country.
Therefore, clear thinking must prevail and not a knee-jerk reaction based on emotions.
In 1995 after the passing of Hurricane Luis we had about the same situation with a lot of houses without roofs and with tarpaulins.
There were no reports of houses burning down because of fireworks exploding in the air, why now.
We start from January preparing for December.
If every year there’s a hurricane and this unproven concern ban on these items stands, we might as well close up shop, because it’s not worth the time and effort invested in it from January.
When government takes a decision it should be a fair and just decision.
We believe that we should have been given the opportunity to prove that fireworks exploding 50m in the air pose no danger other than any firework when used in a responsible manner.
Collins Arrundell
Managing Director
