The safest way to get your bonfire started
sir – I was interested to read your report (October 8) on the events planned for November 11.
I am, however, a little concerned about the suggestion that people should build ground-level celebratory bonfires. I agree with your detailed safety instructions, but the fire must be built and lit so that it burns from the top downwards.
This is an established safety practice, which avoids a collapse and the resulting clouds of sparks and burning debris that can be blown into the crowd on a windy night.
The practice goes back more than 80 years to the Coronation of King George VI.
Frank Brittain
St Albans, Hertfordshire