Stars align for fiery night

The University of Otago says it is "very disappointed" with the fire-lighting behaviour of students in Dunedin on Saturday night, and blamed it on a "dangerous combination" of circumstances that in the past have also heralded problem weekends.

Student services director David Richardson said when alcohol, end-of-exam celebrations, flat clean-ups and good weather combined with Guy Fawkes falling on a Saturday, people's personal judgement tended to became clouded.

The Fire Service raised concerns after at least 31 fires were lit in Dunedin's student quarter on Guy Fawkes' night, accounting for about 10% of all the fires in the country that night.

Fire Service Dunedin area commander Brendan Nally said only one of the calls was fireworks-related while the rest were burning couches, mattresses and rubbish.

"It's almost like Guy Fawkes was the cover - this was a mass rubbish burning."

Mr Nally said the "idiots" lighting the fires were not just having harmless fun, but were committing acts of arson.

"I don't want to kill the student culture you know, I'm not the fun police ... but when it comes to the point where it's endangering people's health and safety or putting other people's property at risk, that's where I draw the line."

The largest fire of the night was in a pile of mattresses, furniture and DCC rubbish bins in a backyard in George St.

At one stage, vehicles had to go around a burning mattress left lying in the middle of State Highway 1 near Dundas St, and people were burning furniture in the North Ground between Cumberland and Gt King Sts.

Mr Nally said other fire crews were also periodically called in from other parts of the city, leaving those areas with less cover on Guy Fawkes night, traditionally a busy time for the Fire Service.

The behaviour of those involved was even more disappointing given the time and money the public had spent through the Fire Service, the University of Otago, Dunedin City Council and other emergency services working with students to stop the fires, he said.

"It is disappointing that a couple of times a year, they just throw all that out the window."

Mr Richardson said in anticipation of a problem weekend Campus Watch had run two shifts of staff on Saturday, to respond to and try to prevent incidents.

Any student caught in the act of lighting a fire was dealt with seriously, and several had been expelled from of the university in recent years for doing just that, but on Saturday night none were caught by Campus Watch or, to his knowledge, police.

In the past, there had been "major problems" around campus when circumstances aligned as they did at the weekend, but the introduction of various measures had significantly reduced the amount of unacceptable behaviour in the student quarter in recent years.

debbie.porteous@odt.co.nz