KEY POINTS:
Three men will appear in Palmerston North District Court charged with arson after a series of fires in Manawatu over the weekend.
Detective Glenda Barnaby said the three, aged 19 and 21, have been charged with arson of straw bales and burglary. A haystack containing 20,000 bales was torched on Friday.
Two of the men have been charged with arson of a vehicle at Ashhurst earlier in the evening.
Further charges were to be laid over other fires lit in the district.
Three fires were started in the Ashhurst area and seven in the Mt Stewart area between Friday night and Saturday morning.
The 10 arsons stretched firefighting resources, and volunteers had to be called up in the middle of the night from surrounding areas to cover the district.
Ms Barnaby said police were still interested in sightings of two cars - a red Mazda Familia with a "for sale" sign on the rear window and a green Toyota Starlet between 8pm on Friday and 2.30am on Saturday.
- NZPA
