AN URGENT warning was issued today after a haul of display fireworks, which are powerful enough to kill, was stolen in a Bonfire Night raid on a firm near York.

The fireworks display company's managing director, Daniel Blake, also told today how the thieves could have blown themselves up - when they used an oxyacetylene torch to cut through the side of a steel store housing the devices.

Thieves struck at Elvington-based Firepower Ltd some time last night and escaped with fireworks worth about £5,000.

The devices are so powerful that the firm needs £5 million worth of insurance cover to use them, and they must be stored under strict conditions.

Mr Blake said: "These fireworks are completely lethal and there were some massive ones in there. Without trying to sound melodramatic, they will definitely kill, and would destroy a house if they went off inside one.

"These people cut through the side of the metal store with an oxyacetylene torch. They could have set the whole lot off very easily. I don't know whether they knew there were fireworks in there."

In Leeds, similar devices have been used by vandals to completely destroy public telephone boxes.

The main fear is that the thieves may try to set them off themselves or sell them on to others who have no idea how dangerous they are.

Mr Blake said some of the devices, which are classed as Category 4 explosives, were designed to be triggered remotely by an electronic ignitor. This means anyone who tries to light one of the fireworks by hand would be instantly caught in the blast.

The stolen fireworks are brown and round or cylindrical, varying in size from a tennis ball to a football. Each has a long paper fuse coming out of it. They were contained in boxes marked with "explosive" signs.

Sergeant Colin Ventress, of York police, said: "We are obviously very concerned that these fireworks could be used in the wrong hands. We are urgently seeking the return of these items and we would urge anyone who knows where they are to contact us."

Meanwhile, the demand for fireworks to set off at private parties last night was so big that revellers swamped the fireworks counter at Asda's Monks Cross branch.

"We had five staff and three tills on that counter all day. We sold loads, shoppers were queuing all day," said store spokeswoman Maree Edgar.

Paul Loughran, duty manager at Sainsbury's, Monks Cross, said: "We were inundated between 5pm and 7pm. We only had two boxes left today."

Kevin Sherwood, who sells fireworks from his farm shop at Thorpe Willoughby, near Selby, said: "Yesterday was the busiest day we have had since we started selling fireworks."

Firefighters in North Yorkshire had a relatively quiet night.

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service spokesman Steve Couchman said: "We were called to quite a few bonfires, but they were all well under control. It was a trouble-free night, we are very pleased."

The celebrations at the Derwent Arms pub, in Osbaldwick, York, are traditionally popular. Now into its third year as a free event, the party saw between 250 and 300 people turn out to enjoy last night's fun.

Gordon Watkins, landlord at the Ebor pub, at Bishopthorpe, saw more than 300 people turn up to the pub's bonfire party.

lPolice today condemned "mindless" youths who threw lighted fireworks into a bedroom where a six-month-old baby girl was sleeping.

West Midlands Police said the incident at a maisonette in Glentworth Gardens, Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, could have cost the youngster her life. Detectives said a group of youths smashed a window at the property last night before dropping lighted fireworks into the room.

Updated: 15:46 Wednesday, November 06, 2002