Exam work feared lost in suspicious school blaze

Firefighters inspect the damage at Kerikeri High School. Photo / Kate Shuttleworth

Staff at Kerikeri High School fear students' mid-year exams and assignments may have been lost in a suspicious fire that damaged five classrooms.

The fire, which started under wooden benches outside the school's science block about 4.20am yesterday, has devastated the close-knit school community and closed the school until at least Thursday.

Police investigating the blaze, which at its peak involved 13 fire trucks with more than 50 firefighters, believe several rubbish bin fires reported at the Cobham Rd skatepark are connected to the school fire.

Principal Elizabeth Forgie said it would not be known until at least tomorrow if any work was lost.

Students had recently sat their mid-year exams but no one would know if any work had been lost until at least Tuesday, she said.

It was hoped that any work lost might have also been saved on an external database.

"The most crippling thing is keeping the full programme going for students in the short term. Our first job on Tuesday morning is going in to re-timetable everything."

The cost of the fire would not be known until Ministry of Education insurance assessors had completed inquiries but it had destroyed a computer room with 19 computers with a combined value of more than $28,000.

"The physics laboratory is completely burned out and so is the preparation room that was between the physics lab and the general science lab next door. The general science lab is not going to be saved either."

Two other maths classrooms had been badly damaged, Mrs Forgie said.

Detective Sergeant Rhys Johnston of Kerikeri said officers were following "several good lines of inquiry" and were hopeful that a new surveillance system recently installed by the school would provide answers.

High winds may have fuelled the fire unexpectedly.

"It may very well be that those responsible hadn't intended for it to go this far. I'm confident that someone within our community will know who is responsible for this school fire. Often in circumstances like these, word gets back to the school or to the police within a few days."

Mr Johnston appealed for anyone with information to contact the school, Kerikeri police or through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

In Auckland, investigators were yesterday looking into another suspicious fire which gutted a Housing New Zealand property in Fenchurch St, Glen Innes which began about 11.30pm on Saturday.

Fire safety officer Neville Trevarton said the vacant home had a "colourful" history and its occupants, who moved away from the property last Tuesday, were known to police.

Meanwhile, a fire that destroyed a Helensville homestead built in 1905 is believed to have been caused from inside the chimney.

The fire, on a dairy farm on Parkhurst Rd, awoke the two homeowners when their lights flickered and turned on about 2.30am yesterday.

Fire safety officer Neville Trevarton said that fire sometimes acted as a switch for electrics in homes.