School damaged in arson attack

A Porirua school has suffered extensive damage after two deliberately lit fires raged through several classrooms early this morning.

About 15 fire appliances battled the fire which was reported just before 2am at Te Kura Maori o Porirua.

Porirua Fire Service senior station officer Trevor Sheehan said three classrooms had been fully ablaze, and about half the school had been damaged or affected by the fire.

Fire services had arrived to find classrooms in two separate blocks alight, he said.

"One block was heavily involved, two classrooms were on fire and it spread along a hallway towards another classroom.

"With the smaller fire in another block, just one classroom was burning but the damage was extensive."

The school is a Maori immersion school on Warspite Ave in Waitangirua, catering to students up to year 11.

Mr Sheehan said fire crews from as far afield as Brooklyn had been called in to tackle the blaze.

Fire safety officers were examining the scene this morning, but Mr Sheehan said he could "put a million dollars" on the fires being deliberate.

It was concerning in light of another spate of fires on Thursday night, where three fires in northern suburbs were reported within an hour of each other.

Those fires had been restricted to scrub and bush, so this was another step up, Mr Sheehan said.

Police were investigating, he said.

"It was definitely deliberately lit, but as to the initial cause of the fire, we won't know that until police and fire investigators finish at the scene," he said.

- NZPA