Napier police have received a report of two teenagers running from the area around the time a fire was spotted at Sacred Heart College in Napier on Thursday night.
The fire started in a corridor between storerooms and a boiler room, and had burned walls and the ceiling area.
Detective Chris Cahill,
of Napier CIB, said there were some issues which required full investigation before the cause could be determined.
Among those investigations was identifying the teenagers, a male and female, seen running down an alleyway near France Road and Cobden Road around 8pm.
Mr Cahill said the witness described the boy as around 16, thin with scruffy blonde hair and wearing a dark hooded top. His female companion was Maori, about the same age, with shoulder-length reddish-blonde hair.
The witness believed he had seen the boy in the past - at the Skate Zone riding a BMX bike. On that occasion he was wearing a grey hooded top with a white skull and crossbones on the front. Mr Cahill said the boy may have no connection with the fire but police needed to speak to him to rule him out.
They also wanted to talk to a neighbour who was first on the scene and fought the fire using a hosereel.
