FAMILIES are being urged not to support the NHS by releasing sky lanterns as they could start fires.

London-based Night Sky Lanterns, which first suggested the weekly tribute, backtracked after criticism – but the fear is that the idea has sparked people’s imagination.

On its website, the company says its intention had been to sell special £6 lanterns decorated with the union flag and pass £5 from each sale to the NHS. It has called a halt to the plan but, it says, the special lanterns would still be available with profits donated to other charities instead.

Objections to sky lanterns have been raised by fire chiefs, the CLA and other countryside groups. They have been supported by West Somerset’s MP Ian Liddell-Grainger who said releasing lanterns would be ‘reckless beyond belief’.

And he feared the seed had already been sown for a very dangerous trend. “Even if this particular company is now trying to distance itself from the idea, I am concerned that thousands of families will still think it a good idea to show their support for the NHS in this way,” he said. “If they really want to help the NHS, it would be far simpler just to make a donation to a medical charity rather than waste it on a dangerous gadget.

“It is reckless beyond belief to release sky lanterns when they have the potential – as has been seen on many occasions – for starting fires. They pose an enormous risk to barns, thatched roofs and to moorland areas where conditions at the moment are extremely dry.”

Rural insurer NFU Mutual says the practice could start grassland or property fires and that debris from burned-out lanterns can kill grazing sheep and cattle if they eat it.

Rural affairs specialist Rebecca Davidson said: “The countryside is extremely dry after three weeks without rainfall in many areas and sky lanterns released now could start grassland and moorland fires as well as putting homes and commercial premises at risk.

“Fires caused by sky lanterns are entirely preventable, and at a time when fire service crews are needed as an essential part of the coronavirus emergency response – so we are urging the public not to use sky lanterns but to show their support for the NHS in other ways.”