More cities and towns around Norway cancelled New Year’s Eve fireworks displays this year, mostly because of how expensive they’ve become. Fear of fireworks amongst the public also seems to be rising, but Norwegians are still spending millions on them privately.
Fireworks displays like this one over Oslo have been cancelled once again in the Norwegian capital and in several other municipalities. They simply were viewed as too expensive. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst
Oslo’s city government sponsored a major public display for many years, but dropped it a few years ago mostly for financial reasons and the noise that frightens dogs and some children. Explosive fireworks also haven’t always seemed appropriate after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Last year Oslo mounted a light-show that was also expensive and later ridiculed, so this year there won’t be any public New Year’s celebration. Local attempts to raise funding through a private fireworks initiative failed as well. There’s also an official ban on fireworks within the inner city in Oslo, but it’s often ignored by private fireworks enthusiasts and difficult to enforce.
A recent public opinion survey, meanwhile, showed that fully 53 percent of Norwegians questioned had personally experienced “unsafe situations” around fireworks being set off privately. Calls have gone out, not least from the large insurance company Tryg Forsikring, for a national ban on sale of fireworks because of all the personal injury they’ve caused and the fires they’ve started.
“Every New Year’s Eve we see that the combination of explosives, alcohol and a lack of experience leads to serious injuries and expensive fires,” Ole Irgens of Tryg Forsikring told news bureau NTB. It would like to see only professional fireworks displays, under the control of local officials. That’s what can now cost millions of kroner, though, and which politicians in Oslo will no longer prioritize at a time of budget cuts.
The west coast city of Ålesund has also also cut out fireworks, as has Bodø, Møsjøen and Mo i Rana in Northern Norway, although some private organizations may set some off. Grocery store chain Coop was sponsoring a smaller fireworks display in Bodø, for example.
City officials in Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand and Tromsø, meanwhile, were going ahead public fireworks displays, some of them in cooperation with local businesses that helped with their financing. Trondheim was making a comeback with publicly sponsored fireworks after cancelling it last year, while also lighting bonfires, offering an early fireworks display for children and a major fireworks fesival at midnight.
NewsinEnglish.no staff