Firefighters suspect Tennyson St blaze deliberately lit

Firefighters suspect a blaze which destroyed a derelict building in Auckland was deliberately lit.

Brad Mosby of the Balmoral Fire Station says arsonists, possibly a group of local youths, could be to blame for setting the empty two-storey building alight late Friday night - an inferno which could be seen from much of central Auckland.

More than 30 firefighters battled for several hours to douse the flames which reached up to six storeys high, according to witnesses.