KEY POINTS:
A historic south Waikato Maori meeting house has been burnt to the ground, and its carvings and irreplaceable photos of ancestors destroyed early today.
The Tamateapokai whenua meeting house on the Pouakani marae in Mangakino was razed by fire at 7am, said Fire Service national adviser Piki Thomas.
No-one was in the building at the time.
Fire trucks from Tokoroa, Taupo and Rotorua joined the local brigade to fight the fire, he said.
Few of the carvings were saved.
"Unfortunately we don't expect to find much in the way of retrievable items once the overhaul of the building is completed."
Mr Piki said most marae buildings were built without using fire-rated materials, and their layout wasn't often designed to stem fire flows.
The Mangakino fire was a timely reminder to all marae to manage fire risks.
"An ideal fire safety measure in this instance would have been a sprinkler system, which would have controlled or put the fire out early."
It was particularly important to manage risks in buildings like meeting houses, where people often slept.
"Marae should remember the Maori concept of manaaki tangata -- the ethos of caring for one another -- when thinking about marae fire safety.
"Having people sleep in marae buildings without early fire warning devices ridicules the concept of manaaki tangata."
Mr Piki said all marae should install sprinklers, smoke alarms and have evacuation plans.
- NZPA
