Woman charged with Kaitaia arson

Police in the arson-hit Northland town of Kaitaia have charged a woman with lighting one of 23 fires deliberately lit in the past 14 months.

A Kaitaia woman in her late-40s appeared in Kaitaia District Court on Saturday charged with an arson at the Far North District Council building in February.

She was remanded in custody until tomorrow when she would reappear on the arson charge and unrelated matters.

Senior Sergeant Gordon Gunn said police had a long way to go to determine whether the woman had been involved in any of the other fires.

"There are a variety of fires. Ones where a phonebook has been torched in a phone booth. We have rubbish skips set on fire on their own and adjacent to buildings and then had a series of structure fires where more deliberate attempts have been made to set fire to buildings. Then we've had grass and scrub fires and bush fires."

Businesses, community halls and even a school have been targeted by arsonists, and police have said previously that the method of starting the blaze was similar in each of the fires.

An arsonist is believed to have last struck on May 19, when there was a fire at the Kaitaia Family Church Hall about 3.50am.

So far the suspect fires have only been at unoccupied buildings, but concern that the firebug could target homes prompted an offer of $1000 reward for information leading to their arrest.

The fires have had the town on edge, particularly the business community, and civilian patrols have also been carried out at night in an effort to deter the arsonist.

The Fire Service even called in Dr Ian Lambie, director of clinical psychology at Auckland university, to build a psychological profile to help catch the firebug.

- NZPA, NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)