Canberra householders, pet owners and emergency services workers were left counting the cost as the smoke cleared from the city's annual weekend of fireworks.
Police received almost 200 reports of fireworks vandalism over the long weekend, more than 100 dogs were found roaming the streets and the bomb squad was called to Chisholm after crackers damaged two stormwater drains in the suburb.
Letterboxes and wheelie bins were reportedly destroyed, fireworks damaged a car and a house in Belconnen on Friday night, four 13-year-old boys were detained in Griffith on Saturday afternoon suspected of setting a vehicle and carport alight, and crackers were thrown into the laundry of a Kambah home on Saturday night.
The Queen's Birthday long weekend is the only time of the year Canberrans can legally buy and let off fireworks and they can only be used on private property from 5pm-9pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Despite tighter restrictions this year, one victim, whose car was severely damaged by a firecracker that had been taped to the windscreen, compared the capital on the Queen's Birthday long weekend to a ''war zone''.
David Cavill, of Kambah, left his McKillop Street house yesterday morning to find a 13cm hole blown in the windscreen of his white Ford ute by a firecracker that had been taped to the glass.
The 63-year-old retired construction worker said cracker night was not worth the vandalism.
''I have always been against fireworks, the damage to property, it's like a war zone,'' he said.
''The park nearby has a wheelie bin that has been blown up, rubbish strewn and nothing was left of the bin but the wheels.''
Australia Post was left with a $1500 bill for a postbox that was blown up at Gowrie shops, with a spokesman saying some mail had been damaged.
''We will forward whatever mail we can on,'' he said.
ACT Fire Brigade said it responded to 80 fireworks-related incidents which were mostly blown-up letterboxes, exploding wheelie bins and grass fires sparked by fireworks.
Domestic Animal Services reported that its inspectors, working 14-hour shifts, had picked up 70 dogs wandering the streets, while the RSPCA's shelter in Weston was unable to house the 42 lost pets reported to the society and was asking people in the community to care for pets until they were claimed by owners.
RSPCA chief executive Michael Linke said frantic pet owners had inundated the society's animal shelter to check on the welfare of their animals that had gone missing at the weekend.
''It's been flat chat all day with a constant stream of people coming through looking for their dogs,'' Mr Linke said.
''The positive thing is that we've been doing very well in identifying and returning these pets because the message about identification and microchips seems to be getting through.''
Minister for Police and Emergency Services Simon Corbell, who pledged on Friday that police would crack down on fireworks' displays outside curfew times, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The minister said before the weekend that the Government's policy on fireworks would be reviewed again this year.