A toilet block has been destroyed and three classrooms damaged in a suspicious fire at Kerikeri High School.
The alarm was raised at 2.20pm today with station officer Andy Hamberger saying flames were shooting out both toilet doors and the rear windows when the brigade arrived.
Volunteer firefighters in breathing apparatus brought the blaze under control and stopped it engulfing the classrooms on either side of the toilets.
![Firefighters hose down an adjoining classroom and check for hotspots. Photo / Peter de Graaf](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/MKD744OSECSORO5C3GKTU3HNRI.jpg?auth=5cad48a83ba70a4f917ce7a8f8ec4c6ccdfb196c97ead3da1c86495f182f57df&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
Hamberger said the classrooms had sustained water and smoke damage, and the flames had started spreading to another classroom block across a walkway behind the toilets.