There's not doubt that firework displays are becoming a thing of the past for two reasons: noise & drone displays.

The latter is a much cheaper, less noisy and equally spectacular… but without the smoke and explosions. As for the former, this is the overriding reasons that more and more towns are cracking down on firework use.

Take the case of El Borge in the Axarquía of Málaga. The Town Council have heeded the complaints of locals who point out that a bombardment of fireworks is unsettling, if not downright frightening, the autistic, babies and pets and even the elderly.

A perfect example is the dog that jumped from a high balcony in Nerja during the Christmas period, driven by the unsupportable noise. If these detonations are very loud for humans, imagine the torment that a dog’s sensitive hearing goes through.

So, El Borge, with its 925 official inhabitants (empadronados) has decided to open a public debate: “rockets, bangers and other fireworks – yes or no?” The idea is to have a decision in place before the village fiestas come around in spring in honour of San Gabriel, their patron saint.

To achieve this, each household is getting this referendum pamphlet delivered under their door or in their post box, with the instructions: tick the box that coincides with your opinion.

Villagers were able to cast their vote between 08.00h and 14.30h in a special ballot box within the Town Hall building, up until the end of last month. They even provided a phone number to contact (952 512 033) for those who wished to know more. However, only people over 18 were allowed to cast their vote, which was checked against the Empadron. So, if you’re a foreigner living there and hadn’t bothered to get empadronado, then you couldn’t vote.

At the time of writing (25th), the results weren’t available, but one thing is for sure, more and more municipalities will do away with official firework displays.

(News/Noticias: El Borge, Axarquia, Malaga, Andalucia)