Henare O'Keefe calls for arsonists to be identified

Hastings district councillor Henare O'Keefe is calling for anyone with information about a spate of vehicle fires in Flaxmere to come forward and identify arsonists. Photo / File

Hastings District Councillor and Flaxmere community leader Henare O'Keefe is calling for anyone with information about a spate of vehicle fires in Flaxmere to do the right thing and make the call to have the arsonists identified.

Mr O'Keefe's call comes as a team of police detectives work on tying up the links between a spate of vehicle fires over the past month with the latest three occurring in the early hours of Saturday.

"Someone knows who did this," Mr O'Keefe said.

He said he had been in touch with detectives working on the case and they were keeping him up with the play.

"It will all come right in time but for now the inconvenience they are facing is just so sad . . . should not happen,

"Hopefully we'll get some good news."

Bridge Pa childcare centre Te Kohanga Reo O-Korongata was one of the fire victims left to clean up the pieces after a van used to transport children daily was badly damaged.

Te Kohanga Reo National Trust regional director Charlotte Gibson said staff were working to complete insurance requirements but it was "human nature" to be disappointed about the incident.

"It's just disappointing to happen to anyone and it's happened to us. I have all the faith in our staff on the ground [working] . . .to return to normality."

She said staff were in communication with whanau to ensure alternative travel arrangements were made, but couldn't say the childcare centre's day-to-day activities wouldn't be disrupted.

"I would say because of what's happened there would be some disruption but I'm not sure of the extent of the disruption."

As of yesterday no arrests had been made and anyone with information about the fires was asked to contact Hawke's Bay police on 831 0700 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.