A popular Auckland beach has been left littered with fireworks and booze bottles after Guy Fawkes celebrations in the city.
The mess has infuriated local resident Sophie Lister who discovered the carnage at Mission Bay while out for a run along the waterfront at 6.45am today.
"Just firework rubbish everywhere, it's absolutely insane people," she says in a video she recorded of the site.
"I don't know what makes people think that they can do this to our beautiful country."
She'd never seen the beach in such a state before.
"I'm just absolutely aghast at what I'm seeing at beautiful Mission Beach. It's absolutely crazy. Sort it out people, this is not okay."
She said not only was the length of the beach covered in used fireworks, but also people's rubbish including beer bottles and pizza boxes.
"I saw a little bit and then looked up and it was just as far as the eye could see. There was one particular patch where they had been drinking beers, so [bottles] were there, pizza boxes and stuff, literally like a whole party and not a thing had been touched.
"They'd just got up and walked away. You could picture what had happened there."
She said she would support a ban on the sale of fireworks.
Orakei local board chair Kit Parkinson called the sight "disgraceful".
"It's disgraceful and creates a huge extra amount of work for the council which has to be paid for out of ratepayers' money."
He visited a variety of sites last night including Mission Bay and said there were quite a few people there about 9pm, but it was even busier about 11.30pm.
"It wasn't packed [at 9pm] but it was busier later on. I only drove through the car park though but they were all down there for hours.
"I drove around quite a few of the different places. Everyone was really well behaved. There was families. 11.30 last night there was, what looked, a 6 or 7-year-old girl playing on the equipment and I thought she should be home in bed."
He said incidents like last night convinced him even more that there needed to be a ban on the sale of fireworks.
However, in the meantime, he said it was probably preferable to let fireworks off at the beach, as opposed to a park, despite it being illegal to let them off at either site.
"It is illegal to let fireworks off down there. It is at any park in Auckland but I would prefer to see people letting them off at a beach rather than a green park surrounded by trees and houses, if you're looking from a safety point of view."
The beach had since been cleaned up. Contractors had told him there'd been "truckloads" of rubbish taken away.
Firefighters were kept busy last night, battling over 100 fires started by fireworks.
A Fire and Emergency northern area spokesman said there were about 100 fireworks-related call-outs since 6pm yesterday, including 50 in the northern area.
There were no injuries from any of the northern fires, he said.
READ MORE: • Lee Suckling: The problem with fireworks nobody talks about
The busiest period was between 8-10pm, when they dealt with about 50 call-outs – 25 of those related to fireworks.
The most serious in Auckland was a 40sq m vegetation fire on Mt Wellington about 9.30pm.
The spokesman said due to its high visibility they received "lots" of calls about the fire, and five fire trucks attended, quickly bringing the blaze under control.
Reuben Lawson was driving past when he saw a "ring of fire" on Mt Wellington.
Lawson said the fire was "fairly big" and thought a few fire trucks could have been able to park inside it.
A police spokesperson said emergency services were investigating allegations fireworks were involved.
Meanwhile there was a serious house fire in Te Kopuru at about 8.40pm.
"It was well-involved when the fire crews arrived," a Fire and Emergency northern area spokesman said.
"It appeared to be fireworks related but fire investigators will be there to investigate this morning."
It took about three hours to extinguish.
There were no reports of injuries but the house was substantially damaged.
A central region spokesman said they received six fireworks call-outs overnight, all minor.
A southern area spokesman said it was a busier than normal night, but quiet for Guy Fawkes.
They received a handful of calls, but none of them were major.
A disregard for authority could be why those attending court are thumbing their noses.