Minutes to destroy, years to rebuild school

Glendowie Primary School was extensively damaged by a fire on Friday evening. Photo / Steven McNicholl

A clean-up began yesterday at an Auckland primary school left in ruins after a fire swept through a third of its buildings on Friday night.

Insurance assessors yesterday inspected the damage the blaze - believed to have been started by arsonists - had caused.

Ten classrooms were damaged in the blaze, leaving one third of the school unable to be used when it opens on February 3.

Police are investigating the fire, which the fire service say was started deliberately. They say an accelerant may have been used.

CCTV footage showed the fire had been smouldering for some time before rapidly spreading through the school. It destroyed 10 classrooms in three minutes, took over two hours to put out and smoke from the fire was visible throughout Auckland.

The fire also destroyed a two-storey block at the rear of the school - the classrooms for the youngest pupils - and some intermediate classrooms.

Detective Sergeant Jeremy Williams, of Glen Innes police, said they had spoken to many people who witnessed the blaze but were still looking through security footage.

"Inquiries are still progressing. There is a lot of CCTV (closed circuit television) footage to go through as well. There are still a couple of outstanding people to speak to."

Board of trustees chairwoman Dr Dawn Garbett said school officials would meet the Ministry of Education today to discuss how to rebuild the school for the beginning of term.

"We'll be needing quite a few prefabs, but apparently prefabs are not just lying around the field. They're actually quite difficult to come by.

"But I understand the ministry has a system in place and they will locate whatever is available to us and make sure they're in condition."

She expected around 150 students would need to be taught in the temporary classrooms for the next 18 months to two years, until permanent classrooms were built.

Dr Garbett spent yesterday at the school and said the support from the local community had been overwhelming, although some of the students have been quite upset by the damage.

"Everybody's been fantastic and absolutely supportive. All the local schools have been supportive and have all offered their help.

"We've had parents coming through, we've had home-baking, we've had flowers, we've had the children coming up to the school gates to send us their love and tell us they're looking forward to coming back to school.

"But honestly, the students are sad; they are very, very distressed that somebody would do this to the school that they love."

Senior fire investigator Ray Coleman said it is understood the fire started underneath the school in the art department.

"It then ripped through the school very, very quickly because of a mixture of the wind, the dry conditions and the dry wood of the classrooms."

He said the fire service finished their investigation and have handed over to the police to catch the culprits.

Local Auckland councillor Cameron Brewer said those who started the fire need to be publicly outed, shamed, and jailed.

"As a small, relatively under-resourced country, we can't afford repeats.

"The local community will be increasingly hungry for justice. If there was a chance of a public stoning, they'd be right into that at the moment. Young and old are ringing me appalled beyond belief. This is a terrible violation to a quiet, close-knit and giving community."

Anyone with information should contact Glen Innes CIB or 0800 555111.

- With NZPA