School fire has serial arsonist’s hallmark

A Far North serial arsonist looks to have struck again, this time setting fire to a Kaitaia school.

Kaitaia chief fire officer Terry Houghton got more than he bargained for when he responded to what he believed was a scrub fire in the town on Saturday night.

He arrived at Church Rd about 11.30pm to find two Kaitaia Primary School classrooms ablaze.

"I thought it was just a scrubbie ... We were very lucky we knocked the guts out of it on our first attack."

A total of four appliances - two from Kaitaia and one apiece from Mangonui and Ahipara - and 25 firefighters managed to stop the blaze after about 15 minutes, but the two classrooms suffered extensive fire, smoke and water damage.

Police and fire safety officers are investigating the cause of the blaze.

There was no actual scrub fire - the person who raised the alarm had misidentified the nature of the blaze, said Mr Houghton.

"The person who saw it, saw it from a distance. It was just as well it was stopped when it was."

The region has been hit by "10 or a dozen" suspicious fires in recent months, with a community hall, arts centre and council offices among the targets.

"It looks as if there's some naughty boy or girl out there," Mr Houghton said.

A fire in a rubbish skip at the Kaitaia Pak'n Save ruptured a wooden water tank, causing "an amateur tsunami".

Detective Mark Dalziell, of Kaitaia, yesterday confirmed that Saturday's blaze - which had "pretty much written off" the two classrooms - appeared to have been deliberately lit.

ESR scientists from Auckland will examine the scene.