Fireworks season off to unruly start

The Government's warning to behave with fireworks or risk having them banned in the future seems to have fallen on deaf ears during the first weekend firecrackers were available to the public.

Emergency services were called to a number of incidents around the country, including sparkler bombs being detonated in an Auckland playground and burning firecrackers being thrown into a house in Feilding.

Fireworks went on sale on Friday morning and by late that night Feilding police were already investigating an arson attempt after a firecracker was thrown through a lounge window.

The homeowner heard a smash at about 11.30pm and found the burning firework - which he managed to put out - in the house and fireworks on the lawn and in the letterbox.

Sergeant Ashley Gurney said police were "extremely concerned" at the potential loss of life and serious property damage that could have occurred from the incident.

"It is a cowardly and unprovoked attack on a citizen in their own home in the middle of the night," Mr Gurney said.

In Auckland, St Heliers residents were left worried about the safety of their children after what appeared to be homemade sparkler bombs were left in a playground at Glover Park.

One resident said some men pulled up in a van at about 5pm on Saturday and let off a bomb that was louder than any cracker he had ever heard.

Later that night, similar loud explosions followed.

Graeme Underwood said he woke at 12.55am to an "almighty bang" coming from the park.

"I thought a plane had crashed or something," he said. "Our house is about 200m away and it sounded like it was right outside the window."

When Mr Underwood looked out of the window he saw a group of young men with a lighter on the other side of the park.

Yesterday morning two homemade sparkler bombs were found in the playground, one of which had not detonated.

While no one was injured, there were concerns a child could have come across them and been injured.

In Invercargill, firefighters responded to a call after neighbours spotted suspicious activity outside an elderly woman's house. Fireworks had been stuffed into an internal mailbox attached to the garage of her home.

While Wellington and Christchurch firefighters reported a relatively quiet weekend, Auckland firefighters were kept busy with a number of callouts, mainly to burning letterboxes and shrubs.

Fire Service spokesman Scott Osmond said calls started coming in after dusk but there was no reported damage by last night.

Inspector Barry Smalley, from the Police Northern Communications Centre, said staff received between 15-20 calls about fireworks on Saturday night but they were mostly "low-key". The worst reported damage was a letterbox that had been destroyed.

- Additional reporting NZPA