Fate of Malta Fireworks Festival in the balance after neighbour complains of fire hazard

A Marsaxlokk resident has filed a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the holding of the Malta Fireworks Festival saying that it risks damaging his farmhouse

A Marsaxlokk resident has filed a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the holding of the Malta Fireworks Festival, saying it risks damaging his property.

Anthony Montebello filed the injunction against the Malta Tourism Authority, the Ministry for Tourism and the Commissioner of Police earlier this week, explaining how the site earmarked for the launching of fireworks is just 40 metres away from his farmhouse.

In previous years, the fireworks launched had caused fires in the vicinity of his residence, requiring fire engines from the Civil Protection Department to intervene.

Montebello says that he had offered the organisers a field of his, further away from the property, to use as the launch site but that they had ignored him and used the nearby field anyway.

“The risk and danger that the plaintiff was exposed to is not small, because he ended up with his residence literally in the middle of a bombardment of fireworks.”  Some of his fields had caught fire as a result, he said.

The launch site much closer than the minimum distance from habitation specified in the law, argues the court application.

The defendants had replied, claiming that the injunction was “malicious” as it had been filed just 24 hours before the festival was scheduled to take place. No action for damages had been filed in previous years, points out the reply and says that the event is covered by an insurance policy, adding that fire engines are always on standby at these events.

Even if the property was the residence of the applicant, whenever the event was held in the past he was not allowed to access the place in question and therefore there was no risk to his life argued the defendants, who maintain that they were in line with the applicable regulations. Therefore, they submitted, the only damage he could potentially suffer was financial. On the other hand, the impact on the tourism industry which employs thousands of people, would be much greater if the injunction was upheld.

Lawyer William Cuschieri is representing Montebello in the proceedings, whilst lawyers Frank B. Testa, Maria Lisa Buttigieg and Aron Mifsud Bonnici are representing the Tourism Authority and Tourism Ministry, respectively.