Following New Year's Eve celebrations around Taiwan a day earlier, the New Taipei Fire Department decided on Sunday to remind residents of its regulations on setting off fireworks in the city at night that could yield a fine of up to NT$150,000 (US$4,892).
According to Chuang Yu-yuan (???), an official at the New Taipei Fire Department, the city currently classifies fireworks and firecrackers into two categories: professional use and normal use.
Use of professional fireworks such as the ones set off at Yangmingshan's Tien Lai Resort & Spa and CT Green Bay Hot-Spring Hotel on Saturday night were greenlit by the city government after receiving the required applications, Chuang said.
Meanwhile, the use of normal-use fireworks and firecrackers, such as sparklers, has to follow city regulations that bar them from being lit in schools, libraries, hospitals, care centers, ports, wharves, and metro and railway stations.
Items considered for normal use for the general public also must not be set off within the city from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day.
Those who wish to set off normal-use fireworks or firecrackers during such hours or at prohibited locations need to file an application showing a clear location, time and amount of fireworks or firecrackers that would be used to the fire department via its website no later than five days before the intended date of use.
Anyone caught using normal-use pyrotechnics without approval will be subject to fines between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000, he said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel