KEY POINTS:
The lack of an obvious natural cause has police treating a fire that destroyed a Porirua factory as suspicious.
The Brooker & Hall Ltd timber framing factory on Raiha St, in an industrial area of the city, was destroyed in the early morning fire on Tuesday.
The flames were fuelled by timber stored in the approximately 40-year-old two-storeyed building.
Now Detective Sergeant Shane Ronginui, of Porirua, has said police are treating the fire as suspicious because of the lack of an obvious natural cause.
Forensic testing was being conducted in a further attempt to determine the cause of the blaze.
Mr Ronginui appealed for people to contact police with information.
"We want to know about anything that was a bit out of the ordinary for that time of the morning."
He said it was highly likely that if somebody had been involved in lighting the fire, people close to them would have noticed suspicious behaviour, such as someone taking an unusual interest in the fire or appearing to know a lot about it.
- NZPA
