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An Auckland teenager who posted a video on the internet of a group of boys aiming fireworks at each other has been condemned by the Fire Service.
The clip shows a group of boys running around a field and laughing as they aim fireworks at each other and try to dodge being hit.
The 15-year-old, who didn't want to be named, told the Herald last night that he and his friends thought it would be "funny" to record the incident and put it on the internet.
"Me and the boys, first we were gonna go trick or treating because it was Halloween, and we went into the dairy and saw all these fireworks and heard about them getting banned, so we thought it would be fun [to do something] before they got banned."
He said nobody was hurt during the filming and the group hadn't thought about the danger.
"It would be stink if they got banned ... but I wouldn't really mind. Young people should be able to use them because we are the ones choosing to do it."
And in a separate posting on another website, youths have filmed themselves exploding a "sparkler bomb" in Levin.
Fire Service national commander Mike Hall said the footage confirmed that young people lacked the maturity to handle fireworks.
"This sort of stuff is the reason a retail ban needs to be put on fireworks. A lot of people who have access to fireworks don't have the maturity to deal with them.
"Public displays give a much better bang for buck. They are safe and supervised."
Last month the Government warned that it might ban fireworks sales if they caused too much damage and injury this year.
Meanwhile, a Hamilton high school student needed nine stitches after being hit in the back by a suspected sky rocket.
Police said the teenager was walking up a hill at Hamilton Lake when he heard a loud explosion and something hit his back.
