A Tauranga builder was ready for a quiet night at home on Saturday, but just on dark, things changed.

Pat Ryan and his two dogs were tucked up at Pat's Otumoetai home when Pat's backyard began being lit up with all the fireworks being thrown directly into his property.

Pat says he gets on well with his neighbours, 'like a house on fire,” he says. Except for one neighbour.

Last year Pat rang the police because this particular neighbour was celebrating Guy Fawkes by making 'handmade bombs” and throwing them directly into a fire.

The partying this year started about 6pm, with about 20 people, and Pat says it didn't really worry him.

He'd tucked his two little dogs up into bed and they'd settled in for the night. But everything changed when night fell.

'They started letting off fireworks, then more people turned up, there was yelling and it was a deliberate direct attack at me.”

Pat believes the attack was retribution for him calling the police last year.

'They let off all these fireworks all at once. My dog peed itself on the carpet. It's a little Jack Russell and the other one's a Bichon. They were both shaking. I was holding both of them.”

Pat's backyard was lighting up with all the fireworks being thrown directly into his property.

'They were big buggers. They were throwing them onto the roof, everything was exploding over the house. I'm talking about a massive amount of fireworks.

'They had a 44 gallon drum they were throwing accelerants into. The flames were shooting up four metres into the air.”

The fireworks, nearly two feet in length, shot out balls of fire. Pat stood at the window watching as they landed at his ranch slider, near his car and on the front and back section.

He rang the police and they arrived about 10pm and immediately shut down the party.

The next morning he viewed the aftermath.

'When I got up in the morning my front and back yards were a mess with about 20 of these fireworks. My next door neighbour, who is about 80, couldn't believe it and my other next door neighbours said they'd never heard anything like it. I went to the police Sunday morning and laid a complaint.”

He went around the property picking up the fireworks which he likens to missiles. He found one jammed under the wheel of his van. It had a full tank of gas.

'I'm just peed off. You should have seen my poor little dogs. It took them a long time to calm down. It was a really nasty affair, really uncomfortable.

'Especially when you've got these things bouncing off the windows, off the roof, off the car, exploding everywhere, when you're under attack by this group. My neighbour, who is 80, she was up. She said she couldn't sleep. I saw him with my two eyes throwing these at my house.”