An Auckland councillor is calling for the sale of fireworks to be banned to protect the city’s maunga (mountains) and animals.
Auckland councillor and Regulatory and Community Safety Committee chair Josephine Bartley said she is fed up with the risk of fires.
“[Tuesday] is Guy Fawkes, but people have been letting off fireworks for the last few days. It’s really just time now to cut them off. That’s enough.
“People are stupid with fireworks, so we need to get the Government to ban them.”
Bartley, who went to the site of a fire on Mt Wellington on November 1, said she was told it was deliberately lit and likely caused by fireworks.
“[People] store their fireworks up there, so that they can go back tonight and light them off.
“But we will have security, and I’ll be there, and when we close the gate, we’ll close off access,” she said yesterday.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) said the Mt Wellington fire was started by a discarded cigarette.
“Fireworks were not involved,” said a Fire and Emergency spokesperson.
Tūpuna Maunga Authority chair Paul Majurey said the fires had become a regular occurrence.
“We are deeply disappointed with yet another fire on the Tūpuna Maunga, places of immense cultural and environmental significance.”
Majurey said fires significantly harmed iconic taonga, posed risks to people and property and unnecessarily strained Fire and Emergency services.
He said such reckless acts highlighted the need for maunga protections, including closures during the Guy Fawkes season.
Councillor Bartley said fireworks also caused stress for animals such as her dog Milo, who also had cancer.
“He’s got an adrenal tumour and so, he can’t be overly stressed and excited, otherwise he’ll collapse, and so other dogs barking because of the fireworks set him off.”
A petition by Animates to ban the public sale of fireworks had over 51,000 signatures at 2pm Tuesday.
Bartley recalled when the late Fa’anānā Efeso Collins and Cathy Casey approached the government on behalf of Auckland Council, requesting a ban on the private use and sale of fireworks — and said it’s time to try again for the ban.
While some might view a fireworks ban as overreach, Bartley argued it was “different these days” due to public safety and environmental damage.
“I had Guy Fawkes when I was a kid growing up in Māngere, but what we’re seeing [in] the last few years are more fires on the mountain, more injuries at emergency departments and hospitals, and more people using fireworks irresponsibly,” said Bartley.
“It’s sad that we have to be a nanny state with banning the fireworks, but Australia’s banned fireworks, and … they’re right to ban it.”
Bartley yesterday urged those celebrating Guy Fawkes to be considerate of others by keeping fireworks confined to their backyards and wrapping up by 10pm.
