50 firefighters save school

A massive effort involving 50 firefighters saved much of a small Northland school from flames last night.

A neighbour dialled 111 shortly before 4pm to report a fire at Moerewa's Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Taumarere.

When fire crews arrived they found five classrooms already lit up.

At it's peak there were 50 firefighters, 12 appliances and around ten support staff battling the blaze.

"It was one major block. Fire crews managed to cut the fire off. They've managed to save two classrooms in that block and then there's another classroom block and other outbuildings that have been saved," said station officer Damian Southorn.

He said the classrooms were old wooden structures which burned very easily.

"They're old 1940s style open air classrooms. They're one of the biggest challenges we have in structure fires - older schools like that.

"It was big. It was a pretty hard battle. Very hot weather so crews worked extremely hard and they did very well."

By around 8.30 the fire was under control and crews were damping hot spots and trying to save as much of the school's computers and furniture as possible.

Fire safety officers will be investigating the cause.

- NZPA