Fire crews worked until 11pm last night (Wednesday November 5) putting out fires started on Guy Fawkes Day.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) crews attended a cluster of fires adjoining Sticky Forest that were reported to have been caused by fireworks.

“The biggest of the fires was around 20m x 20m and took six crews from Wānaka, Luggate and Lake Hāwea to extinguish – with assistance from locals with garden hoses,” a FENZ spokesperson told the Wānaka App.

“The first fire was reported around 9.16pm. Crews were still dealing with the last one at 11pm.”

Yesterday evening Lake Hāwea Volunteer Fire Brigade asked the community via social media to “please be mindful of setting off fireworks at this time as we have all appliances attending a fire in Wānaka”.

One person said they saw tourists setting off “sky rockets” at Lake Hāwea’s Scotts Beach Reserve “in a howling gale”.

Sparks headed towards the manuka but there was no resulting fire, the person said.

The group told him they were Australians who said fireworks are banned in Australia so they bought a bag of fireworks to light.

“Every year our crews see how quickly a ‘little spark’ can become a big problem,” the Luggate Volunteer Fire Brigade posted on social media this week.

“Fireworks might be fun for you - not so much for the dog, the horses, or the neighbour’s livestock.”

Guy Fawkes is an annual commemoration of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Fawkes attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I.

In recent years New Zealand members of parliament and the SPCA and other animal rights groups have called for a ban on fireworks, due to fire damage and the impact on fireworks on animals.

PHOTO: Supplied