Video captured the rogue fireworks landing in the crowd, prompting shrieks and shouting among families in the sold-out stands.
Candice, who asked that her last name not be used, said her husband’s face was burned by a projectile and her clothes had holes burned in them.
“My nine year-old is traumatised,” she said. “Total disaster. The blanket behind us caught on fire and a little girl’s arm is burnt.”
Video taken in the stands shows people in the crowd shouting “Get down” and “Help” as the fireworks struck them. “It hit me,” a woman can be heard saying, while a young girl can be heard crying in the background.
Candice said she was disappointed in the promoter’s response to the incident.
“We couldn’t even get first aid on site as there was only one first aid person and he was helping a girl who got her arm badly burnt.
“No one from the event bothered to come down even though they were called. The event continued for another hour as if nothing happened.”
The Waikaraka Family Speedway event featured monster trucks, racing, and a fireworks exhibition which was advertised as “the biggest and the best you will ever see”.
Promoter Bruce Robertson said a speedway official at the event had told him that a piece of one of the fireworks had landed in the crowd.
“It was an insert from a firework, like a clay plug. He said it must have hit somebody on the arm. There was a bit of a mark on her arm but it didn’t look to be a burn at all, there was no blistering or anything,” he said.
Robertson said first aid staff at the event, who were provided by Hato Hone St John Ambulance, had not reported any issues to him. He would follow up with them tomorrow, he said.
Asked about concerns with the organisers’ response, he said: “I don’t know anything about it”. He added that the speedway official had spoken to audience members in the section which was hit by fireworks.
Robertson said it was a “great show” in front of a sold-out crowd of between 6000 and 7000 people. Another 1000 people were turned away at the gate, he said.
A St John spokeswoman said no 111 calls were received about the incident last night. It was not immediately possible to get any details about any contracted services at the event, she said.
On the promoter’s Facebook page, some fans accused the organisers of removing comments about the fireworks incident.
“Any comments about the rogue fireworks are being deleted. Weird,” one person said.
