"A police officer has subsequently discharged a Taser and the man has been apprehended and taken into custody.
"As per standard procedure, cordons are currently in place in the immediate area."
A Fire and Emergency spokesman said eight appliances were sent to the fire.
"It involved a house and a garage. On arrival the occupants of the house threatened our guys with tools and stopped them getting in initially until the police came and sorted that out.
"Because of the delay the house is probably more damaged than it needed to be."
The spokesman said it had been confirmed there were drug activities going on in the house.
"The fire is now out and the fire fighters are being decontaminated," he said.
"The house and the garage are both very severely damaged."
Papatoetoe High acting principal Rakesh Govind said the school had evacuated students from classrooms and moved them to the gymnasium due to the smoke.
"At first we were okay, but then the smoke started to get more and more and was affecting a couple of our buildings near the boundary so we moved the students from those buildings.
"I then noticed the smoke was hanging around and going across the wider school, so I decided to evacuate everyone and we have gone down to the furthest part of the school - which is in the gymnasium.
"All of the students are waiting patiently in the gym at the moment until we get the all clear from the fire brigade, but everyone is safe and sound."
