Government was told of Chinese lantern blaze risks

The revelation came as firefighters continued to battle the Black Country blaze that was sparked by a lantern.

As firefighters today continued to work to put out the fire at the Jayplas factory unit, in Smethwick, it emerged that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was told in May that it should act to get lantern manufacturers to set safety standards.

West Midlands Fire Service said CCTV confirmed that a Chinese lantern had floated on to bales of compacted recycled plastic and paper and took six minutes to ignite and spread. Flames leapt more than 100ft while smoke billowed more than 6,000ft into the sky.

The report was produced by Wolverhampton-based agricultural and environmental consultancy Adas, which was commissioned by Defra to assess the impact of sky lanterns, also called Chinese lanterns, and helium balloons on livestock and the environment. Sandwell MPs Tom Watson and John Spellar have both called for Chinese lanterns to be banned and for a review of rules concerning how waste can be stored at recycling plants.

The blaze is the third at a recycling plant in the West Midlands in less than three months. Flames also took hold at Lawrence Recycling in Kidderminster last month and Pelican Foods in Stourport in May.

Farmers have long been calling for Chinese lanterns to be banned amid concerns they pose a risk to animals. Mr Watson said: "Defra did not listen to the legitimate concerns raised by farmers when they conducted a study just a few months ago. Perhaps now they will see the danger posed by people sending naked flames up into the sky without any idea of where they will land or the damage they can do."

Warley MP John Spellar said he is 'concerned' that the fire was started by a lantern. West Midlands Fire Service has called for an urgent review of the legislation regarding the use of airborne fire lanterns. Mr Spellar said : "I have put a question to the Local Government Minister, Eric Pickles, asking him to consider banning the use of Chinese lanterns. I think following this fire and one recently down in Wyre Forest, there are serious questions as to how much stock recycling companies should have together on one site."

Chief fire officer Vij Randeniya said: "There is evidence of them causing fires, wasting emergency services' time, being mistaken for distress flares, misleading pilots and causing environmental damage.

"They also pose a risk to livestock, agriculture, camping activities, recycling sites and hazardous material sites."

Adas staff David Moorhouse, Steven Tompkins, Rebecca Carter and Yiying Cao say in the report: "The project team has concluded that fire risk associated with the use of sky lanterns is significant. Further consideration is required regarding potential mitigation options."

Defra spokesman Lydia Martin said: "We are raising public awareness of the risks of sky lanterns and working across Government to see what more can be done in areas such as fire safety."