Following a successful ‘cracker’ night, Police and Fire and Rescue (NTFRS) wish to thank members of the public for their outstanding behaviour across the Territory.

District Officer Grant Hamon from the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service said that although they remained busy, it was significantly quieter compared to previous years.

“Between the hours of 6pm and 12am, the Territory Communications Section received 448 Triple Zero ‘000’ calls, 282 of those were relating to fires, compared to 1,703 and 1,335 respectively for the previous year,” District Officer Hamon said.

“Firefighters responded to 76 fires across the Territory between the legal fireworks hours of 6pm and 11pm last night. Of those, 56 were in the Darwin Region, four were in Alice Springs, nine in Katherine, four in Tennant Creek and two in both Jabiru and Nhulunbuy. For the 24 hour period of 6am 1 July to 6am 2 July, fire crews responded to 155 incidents across the Territory.

“We would like to thank members of the public for remembering to only call Triple Zero ‘000’ in an emergency. The drastic reduction made a significant difference for our Call Centre Operators.”

Territorians are reminded that it is illegal to possess and/or let off fireworks until 1 July next year. Anyone caught letting off fireworks illegally can be issued with a $596 on-the-spot fine.