Territory Day celebrations see thousands use fireworks, six injured

There are five precious hours in Australia when it is legal to set off fireworks without a permit, and last night thousands of people across the Northern Territory did just that.

Part of annual Territory Day celebrations which commemorate the day the NT gained independence, fireworks can be purchased by the public and are allowed to be set off between 6pm and 11pm.

Buy it doesn't come without consequences, with many injuries, fires and unexpected explosions.

Loading...

Patricia Brooks, who has lived in Cullen Bay for 14 years, was enjoying the views of fireworks from her apartment when she saw a car go up in flames.

"There was a family with a lot of fireworks, they had a Kia Carnival and had the tailgate up," she said.

"As they went on through the night they were setting off fireworks closer and closer to the car, and the inevitable happened," Ms Brooks said.

"They were shooting out in all the directions, when the firies arrived they had to back off in the beginning because they were actually getting fireworks at them."

Official and unofficial displays

As the sun set last night, thousands of people gathered at Darwin's Mindil Beach for the official display. But it is the DIY explosives people get most excited about.

Territorian Aiden Helset said he spent "easily over a grand" on fireworks for the big night.

His mate Oscar Mirata travelled to Darwin for the special night.

"It's an experience. You don't get this in Perth that's 100 per cent for sure," he said.

Ninety minutes into the festivities and Mr Mirata estimated "about twenty or thirty" fireworks had already gone off course and shot at him.

"It's not for the faint-hearted," he said.

However it wasn't all danger, as nine-year-old Ali also celebrated the night.

"It's cool and colourful, but the loud noises must be scary for the kids," she said.

Six injured and firies kept busy

For some people in the community Territory Day brings about more stress than celebration.

Paramedics across the NT reported six incidents resulting in minor injuries, mostly from the accidental discharge of fireworks.

St John's regional manager Ben Minchin said four of those suffered facial injuries, including a four-year-old in Alice Springs, one man at Mindil Beach and two men at Casuarina cliff.

He said another man took himself to hospital after a firework landed between his back and a backpack he was wearing on the Darwin esplanade.

"We ramp up for cracker night — we put extra crews on nearly location we have, but thankfully we didn't need them all," Mr Minchin said.

For the NT's firefighters, some of the busiest weeks of their year come after the night of explosives.

"The next two weeks after cracker night will keep us very busy," said Elizabeth Valley's volunteer fire brigade captain Jake Porkony.

"Hopefully kids won't play with the fireworks while mum and dad are at work and we should be OK."

Bushfires NT director of capability Jeff Ryan said this year's celebrations resulted in fewer large fires than usual due to favourable weather conditions.

"We've been quite lucky. We've obviously had some rain … in the last several days, the humidity's been higher," he said.

But he said flare ups and leftover fireworks being illegally detonated in the coming days could mean the worst of the fires are still to come.

"The weather is going to change as we move into the weekend where we'll see a cooler, dryer front coming in," Mr Ryan said.

"That will increase the risk profile of bushfire."

Tonnes of fireworks sold

Yesterday morning, hundreds queued to buy their fireworks, explosives lining shelves with names like Trumped 2026, Kakadu Kaos, El Chapo, and Chernobyl.

Territory Day Fireworks director Mark Killip said there was a lot of effort behind the scenes.

"Thousands and thousands of hours, trips to China, testing, design and a lot of packing of pre-orders," he said.

"It's fun, it's exciting and it's really hard work.

"[Across] all the shops in the territory there's several hundreds of tonnes of fireworks."

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said she too was out celebrating the Territory's independence.

"I just want to wish every Territorian a safe and happy Territory Day," she said.

"Today is about celebrating our freedoms, and personal fireworks is one way to show how proud we are to have delivered 48 years of self-governance."