KEY POINTS:
A firebug is terrorising the Taranaki town of Waitara with residents fearing somebody will be killed if he is not caught.
A barn which was set alight at Waitara High School at the weekend is the latest in a series of arson attacks around the town.
It followed an earlier blaze at another school - Manukorihi Intermediate.
Waitara High principal Jenny Gellen said she was gutted about the barn blaze.
"I don't believe how people can just torch something," she told the Taranaki Daily News.
The barn had winter feed for the school's 40 sheep and three heifers as well as about one tonne of wool. The fire damage is estimated at $20,000.
"We just can't afford to replace it and the stuff inside it."
Mrs Gellen was concerned somebody could be killed.
"When is it going to be somebody's house and when is there going to be somebody inside it?"
Dr Ian Lambie, a senior lecturer in forensic psychology at Auckland University, told the newspaper the offenders could become more brazen and target people's homes.
They are attention seekers, he said.
"This is their one time of glory, fame and fortune."
- NZPA
