Fire guts Hamilton school classroom

A Hamilton classroom was gutted by fire and another severely smoke damaged early this morning, a fire service spokesman said today.

Firefighters were called to Hamilton's Forest Lake School about 6am by a police sergeant who had spotted the fire after being called to an alarm sounding at the complex.

Hamilton fire brigade senior station officer John Nicholls said the sergeant got an extinguisher from his car, but when he returned from the vehicle the building had "gone up".

Mr Nicholls said firefighters took about 20 minutes to contain the blaze and stop it from spreading to adjoining classrooms.

Fire safety officer Dave Jenkins said a pile of paper and possibly solvents were used to start the fire.

Forest Lake principal Chris Jessop said the worst thing about the fire was the loss of personal property in the classroom, which was the school's Maori immersion unit.

The school was organising support for students. A Maori immersion class at Hamilton's Rhode St Primary School was gutted by fire in February.

- NZPA