Kite flying risks cited

Don’t fly kites near electric posts.

Chief Insp. Ronaldo Orbeta, Mandaue City Fire Station chief, made this call to parents yesterday as part of the Bureau of Fire Protection’s information drive on the dangers of kite flying in the city.

Orbeta said kites entangled in electric lines could start a fire or electrocute the children trying to free their kites from the electric lines.

Orbeta said parents should make sure that their children play with their kites in open areas away from electric posts.

Threads used to fly kites in urban areas would usually get snagged in electric wires and posts. The thread if not removed might possibly cause a short in the wire connections .

This might start a fire especially if the shorted wire would be near combustible materials like houses made of light materials.

Kites snagged in electric wires causing brownouts, fires, and electrocutions has prompted the Cebu City government to pass a law banning the flying of kites in the city.

Violators will be fined and imprisoned for five days. But since the law was passed in 2004, no one had been caught violating the ordinance.

With no ordinance banning kite flying, Orbeta said the Mandaue City Fire Station could only warn the parents on the danger of kite flying in the city./Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos