A fire lit by an Auckland arsonist in July was one of the city's worst on record.
It was revealed today the arsonist caused $3.2 million in damage to a Queen Street building -- putting the fire in the top ranks of serious fires in the greater Auckland area stretching from
Rodney in the North, to Franklin south of the city.
Auckland had two or three serious fires a year when property loss exceeded $3m, Auckland regional fire commander Paul McGill said.
That put the arsonist's efforts in the Guardian Trust building "up there" with the more serious fires of the area, he said.
However, police said the fire bug may no longer be in his "arson mode".
Since the series of fires, which were all lit on one night, there had been no more.
"There is nothing to suggest whoever it was who lit the fires on the night will do it again," Detective Senior sergeant Jon Moss said.
Police have been hunting the arsonist since July 15 when a series of 13 fires were lit around the central business district.
All but the Guardian Trust building fore were minor.
Mr Moss said police said police were following several lines of inquiry but would not discuss suspects.
They were comfortable about the way the inquiry was going, including information given to police by a hooded man seen in video footage.
The man was seen at seven of the fires but Mr Moss would not say if he was a suspect.
"I wouldn't like to go into that."
He said it was difficult to say if anyone would be charged in the near future but confirmed police were going down a certain track.
He said someone could easily have died in the fires.
- NZPA
