Neighbours save school from burning to ground
Neighbours armed with a garden hose and buckets rescued a Manawatu¯ school from potentially going up in smoke.
Colyton School, near Feilding, was damaged in a suspicious fire about 7.30pm on Saturday, but the blaze was extinguished by neighbours before the fire caused major damage.
The fire started on a wooden seat against a wall next to a classroom at the rear of the school and could have spread into the block of five classrooms.
Neighbour Shannon SkeltonMorris, who has two children at the school, was on her deck a couple of hundred metres away and spotted the flames. She alerted her husband Rik Morris and neighbours Brent and Julie Sellens, who all raced over.
They used a garden hose to extinguish the blaze, as well as buckets and icecream containers filled at a small sink, usually used for art, nearby.
Morris and Brent Sellens said they had extinguished the fire before the fire brigade arrived. Firefighters dampened the scene and tore part of the wall open to ensure the blaze hadn’t spread.
The turf underneath the seat has been melted, the wall damaged, a window cracked and the ceiling is black from smoke.
Brent Sellens dragged the smouldering seat and turf away from the building. He said if the fire had burned for another five minutes it was likely it would have caused serious damage.
Morris said he saw flames about the height of a person, but he knew there was a hose around. ‘‘If [the fire] had gone into the ceiling it could have been a different story.’’
Skelton-morris said she was on the deck when she glanced over at the school and saw flames, then she raised the alarm. ‘‘It was bizarre, the timing. If I hadn’t popped outside we wouldn’t have heard it.’’
Principal Sam Bradnock said the school was lucky the neighbours had noticed the fire or it could have spread through the school.
‘‘At the end of the day no-one was hurt and that’s the main thing. Our school was essentially saved by the actions of the community.’’
He said assessors would sort out what would happen next, but the building would need fixing and painting. ‘‘It doesn’t affect learning, but it’s a bit ugly.’’
Fire and Emergency New Zealand has handed the investigation to police. A police spokeswoman said officers were investigating.