A LATE call to cancel the Battle of Flowers fireworks display has been heavily criticised by the Island’s leading fireworks technician, who said the decision had meant his business had taken a “major hit financially”.
James Bevis of Starburst Fireworks, said he had not been included in discussions leading up to the cancellation, announced just over 24 hours before Saturday’s display was due to start, and that there was “not a cat in hell’s chance” that a spark from the display might have triggered a fire.
The plug was pulled at 9.15pm on Friday following a letter to Mr Bevis from Ports of Jersey, which said that after consultation with the fire service it “could not safely support the fireworks display for this year’s event”.
Mr Bevis said he had been “left out of the loop” during the build-up to Battle.
“It’s unfair to target a small business in this way without giving us any recourse – we have taken a major hit financially with the stock we had purchased and the labour costs of getting the display set up and doing the risk assessment,” he said. “The barge [for setting off the fireworks] was 1,500 metres out from the sea wall, and the fireworks have a maximum burnout range of 220 metres, and the wind was force two from the north-west, so there wasn’t a cat in hell’s chance of anything catching fire.”
A Ports of Jersey spokesperson said: “This was not a decision taken lightly.
“The fireworks proposal was carefully reviewed alongside the Jersey Fire and Rescue Service and, given the current extreme fire index, the prolonged dry conditions and the potential impact on Jersey’s emergency response capability should an incident occur, we concluded that we could not safely support the display.
“We recognise the cancellation would have been disappointing for some, but, like the Battle of Flowers Association, we believe the safety of participants, staff, emergency responders and the wider public must remain the most important consideration.”
Battle chair Martyn Maguire said organisers were “desperately disappointed” at having to make the decision to cancel.
He added: “We put in our risk assessments and safety measures and we were very confident that we could put on a firework display safely, but we were unable to gain a permit from Ports of Jersey to allow us to use the barge.”
A spokesperson for the fire service confirmed that the service did not issue permits for firework displays, but that advice had been provided to Ports of Jersey on the potential consequences of a fire resulting from the display.
Attention now turns to whether the display scheduled to take place this Friday evening at the end of the Gorey Fete can take place.
Organiser Lester Richardson said a decision had been taken to set off fireworks from a barge, rather than on the beach as an additional safety measure, but Mr Bevis said he did not yet have the go-ahead for the display.
Mr Richardson said: “We’ve done what we can – personally I don’t see a problem, but if they say no then there’s not a lot we can do.”
