Gore's mayor has cautioned against panic after the second weekend of arsons in the town.
Community leaders, police and Fire Service personnel held an emergency meeting last night after early morning fires destroyed an elderly woman's home next to the Gore fire station and a building in Tamworth Lane that housed the Gore Country Music Club and a business.
Mayor Owen O'Connor said the community had to remain calm. The best thing people could do was to be vigilant and give police any information they had.
A disturbing twist to the latest incidents was the fire at the residential property, he said.
Yesterday, Mr O'Connor visited the Tamworth Lane fire site and described what happened there as a tragedy.
People he had spoken to, including a friend of the elderly woman, were concerned.
He said the man was "really shaken and quite devastated".
Eastern Southland Chamber of Commerce chairman Nick Jeffrey said he had fielded numerous calls from anxious business owners.
"Every single member of the Gore district community is dragged into this now, every single one of us," he said.
Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Cunningham said he could understand people being on edge.
"The way this is going, someone is going to get hurt before it's all finished."
Mr O'Connor reiterated concerns aired by police after a series of arsons the previous weekend that some business owners sleeping on their premises risked being trapped if their building was torched.
There had been no break-ins associated with the fires and people would be able to monitor their premises better sitting outside in a vehicle, he said.
Even as 32 years of history burned went up in flames early yesterday, Gore Country Music Club members vowed to carry on.
President Sue Stenning and New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards committee member Cathy Murphy could only watch helplessly as the fire ravaged the club's rooms about 3am.
Mrs Stenning estimated the replacement value of the building at nearly $1 million.
Mrs Murphy said the destruction of the concrete building was beyond belief. "It makes me sick."
Initial fears that 1200 seats stored at the rooms, used for the annual country music awards, had been destroyed were unfounded although some suffered heat damage.
But there was no hope for the irreplaceable memorabilia - photos, trophies and posters - and computer programs for the awards.
Gold Guitar convener Philip Geary said it would be a while before the full extent of the fire damage was assessed.
Nevertheless the event would go ahead as planned at Queen's Birthday Weekend. "They are definitely happening, one way or another."
Offers of support and help started pouring in from throughout NZ even before the smoke had dispersed.
- NZPA
Gore's mayor urges calm after second spate of arsons
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