Northern Territory emergency services say firefighters have responded to more than 100 incidents during Territory Day celebrations.
Key points:
- Police said there no reports of significant property damage
- Emergency services said some people had aimed fireworks at fire trucks
- Police said recent weather had been favorable to mitigate fires
Last night, thousands of tonnes of pyrotechnics were set off across the Northern Territory during the one evening a year it is legal to let off fireworks.
NT Police Watch Commander Josh Cunningham said people were mostly well behaved, but windy conditions kept firefighters busy.
“They seemed to have everything under control last night,” he said.
“There was a large amount of grass fires, I think thankfully the weather over the last couple of days, with a little bit of rain, worked on their side.
“But [there was] no damage or any large damage to property.”
Mr Cunningham said emergency services had been disappointed after some Territory Day revealers had allegedly aimed fireworks at firefighters during the night.
“That happened a few times last night, so that was disappointing,” he said.
“But no damages, no injuries, thankfully. But it was disgusting behavior.”
Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service assistant chief fire officer Joshua Fischer also criticized the behavior of some people around emergency services.
“[The] majority of public were well behaved. However, it was disappointing to see that some of our firefighters had to deal with people acting irresponsible with fireworks,” he said.
“There were reported instances of fireworks being let off in the direction of firefighting vehicles while crews were attending to incidents and from high-rise building balconies.”
Mr Fischer said crews had been stretched on the night, and at times attempted to attend multiple fires at a time.
“Our rostered duty crews, with the support of our volunteers, tirelessly to protect properties and thankfully worked no structures were lost,” he said.
Mr Fischer said people across the Northern Territory should remain vigilant and monitor for fires across the weekend.
He also said it was now illegal to light fireworks.
“The public are also reminded, that while you may legally possess fireworks until Monday, July 4, it is now illegal to light anypent fireworks,” he said.
NT Police attended at least one fatal incident last night — a car crash in Darwin — but police did not say it was related to Territory Day celebrations.
Police were called to crash on the Stuart Highway near Winnellie at about 10pm on Friday night following reports a pedestrian had been hit by a vehicle.
The male pedestrian, police said, died at the scene.
Police said the driver remained at the scene until policed arrived and later returned negative results for alcohol and drugs.
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