Gisborne firefighters celebrate incident-free Guy Fawkes night

Firefighters like Kit Jex-Blake gave the public of Tairāwhiti a thumbs up for the good behaviour with fireworks this cracker season. He is one of the most recent recruits at the Gisborne fire station. Photo / Murray Robertson

Gisborne firefighters have congratulated the public for their sensible behaviour as Guy Fawkes Night passed without a single fireworks-related call.

“There were no fireworks incidents last night,” Senior Station Officer Bernie Bull said on Thursday morning.

“Congratulations to the public of Tairāwhiti for doing the right thing.

“For showing a bit of maturity around fireworks this year.”

Bull said back in the skyrocket days, it was a very different story.

“Guy Fawkes back then was pretty horrendous, with lots of drama, structure fires and the like caused by fireworks.”

Bull joined the New Zealand Fire Service as a volunteer in Gisborne in the early 1980s, spent a few years there and then joined the professional ranks out of town.

He was a firefighter in Auckland for 21 years before he returned to Gisborne in 2007.

“This was the first incident-free night of fireworks I have had in my career.

“It was fantastic - Well done Gisborne!”

Bull’s comments were echoed by Tony Kendrew from Eastland Rural Fire.

“It was a quiet night for us, too.”