Quiet Guy Fawkes could give way to busier weekend for Christchurch firefighters

Kineta Knight
Kineta Knight
Nov 06, 2026 9:50 am |
Summit Road blaze biggest of six fireworks incidents overnight / File

Christchurch firefighters dealt with six fireworks-related incidents on Thursday night, but suspect more people could be saving their celebrations for the weekend.

Fire and Emergency southern shift manager Blair Walklin told chrislynchmedia.com Guy Fawkes night had been unusually quiet, with crews quickly bringing the largest fire under control on Summit Road.

The grass fire covered an area about 40 metres by 20 metres, or 800 square metres.

“We extinguished it extremely quickly,” Walklin said.

Crews spent about 20 to 30 minutes at the scene.

Elsewhere, firefighters responded to burning trees near the intersection of Blenheim Road and Hansons Lane about 8.30pm. That fire spread across about 100 square metres before being extinguished.

Multiple calls came in about another vegetation fire on Curletts Road roughly 10 minutes later. Crews also put out a gorse fire on Intake Road in Selwyn before 10pm.

Walklin said none of the overnight incidents had caused major concern, but the relatively low number of callouts could reflect Guy Fawkes falling on a Thursday.

He suspected some people were holding on to their fireworks for Friday or Saturday night.

“I’m picking tonight, probably tomorrow night, we’d see the number increase.”

FENZ increases staffing around Guy Fawkes, and Walklin described Thursday night as much quieter than he remembered in previous years.

He urged anyone planning to let off fireworks to keep a bucket of water nearby and place used fireworks in it.

“If it’s windy, don’t use them.”

Kineta Knight
Kineta Knight

Kineta Knight is a highly experienced senior journalist, content creator and producer. She has worked as a reporter for radio, TV, digital and print, as well as editor of lifestyle magazines in NZ and the UK. Kineta's interests include all-things creative and community. Contact: [email protected]

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