Fire destroys only classroom

An Auckland school teacher burned down his school yesterday after mistakenly putting a burning log in a woodpile beside a classroom.

More than 40 pupils from Drury Christian School are without a classroom next term, after the blaze consumed the school's only building which held the schoolroom, dining hall and kitchen.

Malcolm Brown, Drury chief fire officer, said the fire started in a woodpile behind the school, setting the outside cladding alight, before flames spread through the ceiling.

The fire gutted most of the building, and thick, heavy smoke had damaged everything else, including a new suite of computers.

Mr Brown said a teacher had tried to put a log into one of the school wood burners, but it was too big to fit inside.

The log had partially caught fire, so the teacher stamped out the glowing embers before putting it back in a wood stack behind the classroom about 9.30am.

"We see a lot of these types of fires in winter, but wood can be burning, even when it looks like it's not," Mr Malcolm said.

"It's a big loss for these people."

After smouldering all day, the stack of wood burst into flames shortly before 5.30pm, when school trustee Steve Atkins first raised the alarm.

Mr Atkins saw flames venting through the roof and ceiling, and closed the front doors in a vain attempt to suffocate the fire.

Four fire trucks arrived within seven minutes of Mr Atkins' emergency call, but it was too late.

"I don't know what we'll do, we can't teach the kids next term, and we don't have insurance," Mr Atkins said.

"[The teacher] is pacing back and forth, but it's not his fault. Something good will come from it."