Spiralling cost of school arson attacks

Nearly 60 schools have caught fire in the past year, two-thirds of which were deliberately lit by vandals who caused millions of dollars of damage.

The most recent was Mangere East Primary where the damage was so bad the school had to close for a week after two fires were lit on Monday afternoon, destroying seven classrooms, three toilet blocks and several other resource, storage and teaching spaces.

Two boys, aged 13 and 14, have been arrested in relation to the blaze, which followed a weekend attack on Kerikeri High School where the science block was destroyed.

A 15-year-old was yesterday arrested in relation to that arson.

This week's fires bring the number of school blazes during the past financial year to 57, 42 of which were arson.

The fires, not including the most recent two, caused $3.7 million of structural damage but are not enough for the Ministry of Education to consider installing sprinkler systems which would dramatically reduce the amount of fire damage.

Only 124 schools - or 6 per cent of all schools - have partial or full sprinkler coverage and the ministry says the estimated cost of retro-fitting the remainder would be $500 million.

Figures released to the Herald show that during the past 10 years there have been 639 school fires which caused nearly $40 million in building damage alone.

In the past year the most damaging fire was a $1.4 million blaze at Te Wharekura o Ruatoki which destroyed four classrooms and the school hall, as well as a substantial amount of equipment, teaching resources and students' work.

Four other schools suffered damage worth more than $200,000 each.

Mangere East principal Anthony Noble-Campbell said although it was too early to put a dollar value on the damage at his school, work was already under way removing the charred remains and an education programme to teach children about fire safety was being planned.

Mr Noble-Campbell praised the Ministry of Education and Manukau City Council which had worked fast to arrange permits to demolish the damaged buildings and bring in the relocatable buildings and portable toilets.

TERRIBLE ROLL CALL

The worst school fires in the 09/10 year

* Te Wharekura o Ruatoki, Ruatoki - $1.4 million cause unknown
* Wakanui School, Ashburton - $500,000 suspected arson
* May Road School, Auckland - $350,000 arson
* Casebrook Intermediate, Christchurch - $250,000 suspected arson
* Tikipunga High School, Whangarei - $200,000 suspected arson
* Figures for Mangere East and Kerikeri High are not yet available.