Suspicious blaze at school

Firemen were kept busy battling two blazes in Auckland's eastern suburbs last night (Thursday), including a suspicious fire at Howick College.

Fire services were called to the college at 10pm after being phoned by a concerned resident.

Spokesman Jaron Philips said the foyer area of one building was alight when four appliances arrived.

"It is being treated as a suspicious fire, and the fire involved a foyer of a building, a verandah and some furniture.

He said the fire was brought under control in 10 to 15 minutes.

"My understanding is it's slightly outside in the foyer area of the building so it didn't spread inside the building at all."

He said the fire had been phoned in at an early stage, and no one was injured.

Meanwhile, in nearby Bucklands Beach, three appliances spent two hours putting out a scrub fire on Howick Golf Course.

Mr Philips said a "reasonable size area" of trees and scrub were alight where the golf course meets Musick Point grounds.

Fire services had to cut their way through a chain fence to get to the fire after arriving shortly after 9pm, he said.

He said the cause of the scrub fire was unknown.