Fire captain says Grafton explosions are ‘unacceptable’

Residents across Grafton were startled by the sounds of explosions on Saturday night in an otherwise well behaved first weekend out of lockdown.

The first night out of lockdown in Grafton was generally well-behaved, but some residents were startled by a series of loud explosions.

Fire Rescue NSW Grafton station captain Garry Reardon said a crew was called to a backyard fire late on Saturday night after numerous reports from the public.

The crew arrived to find aerosol cans had been thrown onto a backyard fire, causing them to explode.

Mr Reardon said no Covid restrictions were being broken by the gathering, however because of the nature of the incident fire crews had to attend.

“There’s nothing wrong with a fire in your backyard,” he said.

“But we believe there were about half a dozen cans thrown into the fire, and when they heat up they explode and we have take action.

“It’s an unacceptable thing to do.”

Coffs/Clarence police inspector Jarrod Langan said across the region people were generally well behaved.

“I think the fact the majority of our restrictions have been lifted, and with the hotels and restaurants open things are getting back to normal,” Insp Langan said.

He said there were plenty of people out and about, but very few incidents reported to local police.

“Overall it was a pretty good weekend,” he said.