You Better Watch Out: The Hazards of the Season (washingtonpost.com)
The state of Virginia this past summer adopted new fire codes that prohibit certain apartment dwellers from possessing a freshly cut Christmas tree. The rationale is that, in buildings without sprinkler systems, dried-out Christmas trees can become lethal. A fir so easily becomes a fire.
Naturally the new codes, when publicized this week, triggered widespread hysteria and protests. Some state and local fire officials responded by saying they wouldn't enforce the ban.
That would be tragic, because, in addition to building roads and schools and waging the occasional war in a distant land, the obligation of the government is to protect citizens from freak accidents that kill a handful of people every year in a country of 280 million. This new law should be the catalyst for a sweeping crackdown on all the hazards that make Christmas notorious as the season of misery and death.
Posted by pqbon at December 5, 2003 02:33 PM