Bonfire Night CCTV Footage: Evidence Tips for 2026

Bonfire Night CCTV footage helps police when it identifies people, shows a clear time and place, and can be handed over intact. Night vision alone doesn't guarantee any of that. Bonfire Night falls on Thursday 5 November, so you have about ten days to set low-light exposure, check lens aim, sync the recorder clock and confirm retention. Footage can matter long after the night itself: West Yorkshire Police released CCTV in October 2023, nearly a year after the Halifax disorder of 5 November 2022.

What makes Bonfire Night CCTV footage usable as police evidence?

Footage is usable when it identifies people, fixes a clear time and place, and can be handed over intact; night vision alone guarantees none of these.

Recent cases show how police use it, often long after the night itself:

• Halifax: West Yorkshire Police released new CCTV in October 2023, nearly a year after the disorder of 5 November 2022, and asked the public to identify people pictured, per BBC News. The force had already made 28 arrests.
• Edinburgh: Police Scotland published images of three men on 6 December 2024 for an incident on Captains Road, Gracemount, on 5 November, according to STV News. Each man was described by age, build and clothing, which only works if the image shows those details.
• Birmingham: West Midlands Police released previously unseen CCTV on 5 November 2025 from the fireworks attack on Tony Nicholls on 2 November 2017, eight years on, per BBC News.

The practical lesson is that clips get reused months or years later. Footage that arrives with a trustworthy timestamp, a recognisable location and an unaltered original file is far more useful to an investigation than a dark, grainy recording.

Which camera settings catch people and fireworks after dark?

Cap the shutter time on identification cameras, keep the frame rate high, and use IR cautiously where smoke or close walls are present. Accept some image noise rather than motion blur. This is general installer guidance, not test results, so check each camera's datasheet for its lux rating, IR range and shutter limits.

Low-light and IR

IR bounces off smoke, haze and nearby walls, which washes faces out to white. Three approaches are worth comparing:

• IR-only mode: monochrome and usually the most sensitive, but the most prone to glare in smoky air.
• Colour night vision: low-light sensing that keeps colour, which helps describe clothing. It generally needs some ambient light, so read the datasheet carefully.
• White-light supplementation: a lamp gives true colour and makes the camera's presence obvious. Aim it so it doesn't spill onto neighbouring property.

Shutter and frame rate

A longer shutter gives a brighter picture but smears anyone running. On cameras meant to identify people, cap the exposure time and live with the extra noise. A grainy face you can read is more useful than a clean blur.

Don't default to the lowest frame rate to save storage. Fast movement needs enough frames per second to catch a face or a hand throwing something, so find the storage elsewhere, for example with larger drives or tighter motion-recording zones.

Flashes and bonfires

WDR, HLC and backlight compensation help when a bonfire or launch point sits in frame. They won't remove the problem. A sudden burst will still cause a brief exposure swing, with a few frames blown out or darkened while the camera adjusts, so frame the view away from the likely firing area.

How do you aim cameras to avoid flash and bonfire glare?

Aim cameras across or away from the bonfire and launch area, never straight at it, and test the night-time image for IR reflections.

A lens pointed at a flame or a bursting shell makes the exposure swing. The flash blows out for a moment and the rest of the scene drops into shadow. A camera looking along a path, fence line or entrance, with the display at its side, keeps faces and vehicles properly exposed. Choose a mounting height that gives a usable face angle but sits out of easy reach. Too steep and you only capture the tops of heads.

Night walk-through

Walk the site after dark and watch the live image. Infrared spill bounces back from fences, windows and wet surfaces, and smoke scatters it into a milky wash. Adjust the angle or shade the lens until the glare clears. Repeat the check after any lens or housing clean, because a film or smear left on the glass can bring the glare straight back.

Physical resilience

Read the datasheet for each exposed position:

• IP rating: covers dust and water ingress.
• IK rating: covers impact resistance.

Neither rating is a test against fireworks or heat, so don't treat them as a guarantee. Police Scotland's Edinburgh appeal described pyrotechnics, bricks and bottles being thrown at the public and emergency services. In the worst spots, a lower-cost sacrificial camera is a more honest answer than trusting a rating.

Legal notes

A camera covering public space brings UK GDPR and ICO CCTV code duties, including signage. The exact obligations depend on your setup, so check the UK CCTV law guide on this site before you commission anything.

Is your NVR clock right and will it keep the footage over the weekend?

Only if you check both: clocks went back on Sunday 25 October 2026, and retention depends on how much disk you have against how fast the cameras write.

Clock

Confirm that every NVR and camera shows the correct local time and time zone after the change. Turn on NTP sync to a reliable source so the devices cannot drift apart. At handover, photograph the NVR screen next to a trusted clock.

A mismatched timestamp can make footage harder to line up with other evidence. Timing matters long after the night itself: West Yorkshire Police were still releasing CCTV of Halifax Bonfire Night disorder on 11 October 2023, for incidents on 5 November 2022.

Retention

Days retained ≈ usable disk capacity ÷ (combined camera bitrate × 86,400 s ÷ 8), with units converted so bitrate in megabits per second gives megabytes per day, matched to the capacity unit.

• Codec: H.265 typically writes less than H.264 at similar quality.
• Bitrate: set per stream, and it rises with busy scenes.
• Resolution and frame rate: higher values push bitrate up.
• Motion versus continuous: motion-only recording stretches retention but depends on triggers firing.

Read bitrates from your own NVR's status page and drive capacity from the drive datasheet. Usable space is lower than the label figure.

Over the weekend

Fireworks flash, smoke and shake cameras, so motion triggers can fire constantly or miss the moments you want. Consider switching exterior cameras to continuous recording until the displays are over. Check the formula still gives you enough days, and export any incident clips off the NVR straight away.

How do you export, hash and hand over clips to the police?

Export the clip in the recorder's native format, hash it with SHA-256, keep an untouched master, and give police the hash with the media. This is general good practice, not a legal requirement, and the investigating force's own instructions override it.

Export sequence

1. Note the incident time and add a margin either side, so the clip shows the lead-up and aftermath.
2. Export from the NVR in its native format with the manufacturer's player bundled, so the clip plays unaltered.
3. If the NVR allows, make a second copy in a common format and label it as a convenience copy.
4. Hash the files and record the results.
5. Keep an untouched master, plus a log of who exported what, when and why.

Hash step

The commands below are illustrative. Swap in your own file names.

# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-FileHash .\export_cam03_2026-11-05.zip -Algorithm SHA256

# Linux (sha256sum is part of GNU coreutils; on macOS it needs installing separately,
# or use: shasum -a 256 export_cam03_2026-11-05.zip)
sha256sum export_cam03_2026-11-05.zip

Both return a 64-character hexadecimal string. PowerShell prints it in a table with Algorithm, Hash and Path columns, while sha256sum prints the hash, two spaces, then the file name.

Hash the native export and the convenience copy separately. Record each result in your log and give police the hash alongside the media, so they can confirm that what they hold matches what you exported.

Handover

Use sealed or write-protected media, or whatever method the investigating force specifies. Ask the officer which route they want before you copy anything to a disc or stick. Keep the master and the log in case you are asked about the clip later.