Overview
- Landesbranddirektor Karsten Homrighausen urges a general ban on private firecrackers and proposes district-run, professional displays modeled on New York and Sydney.
- He argues consumer F2 rockets and firecrackers should be ignited only by trained operators, reversing the two-day exception for private use.
- He cites recurring harm at the turn of the year, with hundreds of fires and injuries, including a 2024/25 Kugelbombe that damaged several homes in Berlin-Schöneberg.
- He says centralized zones would make it easier to trace illegal devices that currently disappear in the background noise of widespread pyrotechnics.
- Border checks have recorded a rise in illicit fireworks since October, and local reports indicate Berlin plans more firecracker-restriction zones this New Year.