Firefighters warn business owners

Firefighters in Masterton are warning of a major blaze in the town after a spate of suspected arsons continued at the weekend with a series of nuisance fire.
"The message doesn't seem to be getting through to the business owners to keep their rubbish away from their buildings. Sooner or later a major building will be lost," said Masterton fire service station officer Doug Flowerday.
Three suspicious fires in Masterton on Saturday night continued a string of nuisance fires in the town, he said, with two striking business premises ? the Rigg-Zschokke yard in Herewini Street about 8.30pm on Saturday and the rear of the Mitre 10 building in Cricket Street about 1.20am yesterday.
The third fire was lit in a Queen Elizabeth Park rubbish bin within minutes of the Herewini Street blaze, he said.
Each of the fires is being treated as suspicious, with fireworks a possible cause.
The Mitre 10 blaze was confined to a skip bin near the Cricket Street entrance to the building although exterior cladding was damaged, he said.
The Herewini Street fire started in grass and spread to a building on the property before being doused, Mr Flowerday said, although each of the fires at the businesses were potentially more destructive.
"Both fires were caught early ? the police apparently called in the fire at Mitre 10 ? but either of them could have been far more severe," he said.
"Business owners have got to take this problem more seriously and take care where they store their cardboard and paper rubbish. It really is a recipe for disaster."
On Wednesday night an accelerant was used in an arson attack on Chanel College, while the board of trustees met in a building about 100m from the blaze that damaged a classroom doorway, walls, and verandah.
Police have since charged a 15-year-old Masterton boy with the arson at the college. The boy, not a pupil of the college, was one of two boys who had been made subject to a trespass notice at the school that day.
Three weeks ago a deliberately lit fire razed the hall at the disused Harley Street School and The Drop Zone youth centre in Carterton was gutted in an arson attack a week earlier. Evidence of a historic attempted arson was also found this week at Lansdowne School.
Police and fire safety were investigating each of the suspicious fires reported at the weekend, Mr Flowerday said.