Wellington’s street cleaners are being praised for their attempts to put out a rubbish fire that erupted in the central city last night.

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard Maclean told the Herald the street sweepers did “a very good job” of trying to put the fire out when it started around midnight last night – despite not having fire extinguishers.

“They have brooms and things like that, so they were giving it a go but obviously it was getting away from them.”

He said the sweepers were attempting to bat the flames out and sweep them away – and were grateful when Fire and Emergency crews showed up shortly afterwards.

The council will be talking with the police and Fire and Emergency about the blaze – but Maclean had one plea for people out and about in the city.

“Bottom line is, please don’t light rubbish on fire.”

Fire and Emergency urged people not to stack their cardboard close to buildings to avoid risk - something MacLean agrees with.

“We agree with FENZ about keeping cardboard boxes away from shop frontages – and 99 per cent of the time we don’t have a problem with this because retailers are very used to stacking cardboard boxes and other recycling in a manner that prevents it coming loose and blowing away in the wind – this usually involves keeping the cardboard closely packed and stacked.”