Quietest Guy Fawkes night in years 

Source: Reuters

Emergency services are breathing a sigh of relief on Friday morning after what they are calling one of the quietest Guy Fawkes in years.

A single house fire made up most of the nights events, with a home in Timaru gutted after being struck by an out of control firework.

Emergency services were called just after 9pm to find the house well alight.

It took five appliances to get the fire under control, but nobody was injured.

Meanwhile, fireworks caused a sizeable scrub blaze on Marine Parade in New Brighton.

A central communications spokesman said they had 45 callouts in total, with about half related to fireworks.

In the South Island, only 11 of the callouts were due to fireworks, making for a  very quiet night, a spokeswoman says.

Huge numbers turned out to organised fireworks shows around the country with an estimated 150,000 at the display on Wellington's waterfront.

Meanwhile police are still hunting $11,000 worth of fireworks stolen from the Warehouse in the Waikato town of Morrinsville.

The thieves are believed to have broken into the Waikato store premises between  9pm on Tuesday and 10am Wednesday, police say.

They stole three pallets' worth of boxes of Megashot, Backyard Blast and Astro Blazer Mega Mix fireworks, he says.