Castle St mayhem: Firefighters retreat as fireworks shot at them

Firefighters were forced to withdraw from Dunedin's student quarter when fireworks were shot at a crew dousing a blazing couch.

Police arrested three men for disorder offences in Castle St last night after they allegedly shot fireworks at officers.

Firefighters were called to North Dunedin about 11pm last night after reports of couches on fire.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said fireworks were shot at a Willowbank fire crew extinguishing a couch on fire on Castle St.

Minutes later, the crew responded to two more couch fires in the same area but left the couches to burnout "due to the threat of being shot at with fireworks", the spokesman said.

"If it was a person involved or a house fire or a series of things like that then that's a different story," he said. 

"Firefighters would do what they need to do to save property or life.

"When you're looking at a couch, and the couch . . . is not in the home, then you're not going to put yourself in danger at the risk of actually being shot at by fireworks."

Sergeant Matt Lee, of Dunedin, said police responded to multiple reports of people setting off fireworks and drinking in Castle St at 9pm last night.

"Unfortunately some attendees decided to aim fireworks at officers, which is reckless and dangerous. Thankfully, no one was injured. 

"There were around 80 people on the street and despite multiple warnings, they continued to shoot fireworks at our staff."

Two 19-year-old men and a 20-year-old male were arrested for disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence and held in police custody overnight.

They were released this morning with formal warnings and two would receive infringement notices for discharging fireworks in a public place, Sgnt Lee said.

Police and fire crews also responded to a couch fire on Cumberland St, near the North Ground, at 12.30am today.

The occupants were unaware of the fire until members of the public informed them, Sgt Lee said.

The couch fire was put out by the occupants and isolated to the couch. No other damage was reported. 

"Neighbours provided a description of an unknown male of interest who is suspected to be the person who lit the fire," Sgnt Lee said.

Inquiries were ongoing continuing to identify the male, including reviewing CCTV in the area.

On Monday night, police and fire crews were shot at with fireworks after responding to reports of about 50 males shooting fireworks at each other in Castle St.

After Monday night's incident a university spokeswoman said it was "extremely disappointed by the dangerous and unacceptable behaviour" involving fireworks near campus.

She confirmed the incident was being investigated by the Proctor’s Office.