Fire at abandoned school called suspicious
GREYMOUTH
FIREFIGHTERS and Criminal Investigation Branch detectives have sifted through the charred remains of an abandoned classroom in Greymouth for clues about what caused a suspicious fire on Thursday.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand West Coast fire safety officer Sam Buglar said he had no idea how the fire started in the old Greymouth
Intermediate School, which had been deserted for about three years.
‘‘We are only early into the investigation and I am trying to find the point of origin of the fire, which destroyed an old classroom and some of the hallway outside it.’’
There was no electricity connected to the site, he said.
Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Lee Swinburn confirmed the blaze was being treated as suspicious.
‘‘We had 35 firefighters from Greymouth, Cobden and Brunner on the ground fighting the fire, which started around 12.40pm on Thursday.
‘‘The fire was in an area where there were four classrooms, one of which has been destroyed and three others were saved. The response to the fire was bloody good — it was a good save,’’ Mr Swinburn said.
The water main in Turumaha St burst while they were fighting the fire, but it did not cause any major problems as the five fire trucks at the scene each had 2000 litres of water on board, he said.
They also tapped into the hydrant on State Highway 6.
Senior sergeant Aaron Paulsen, of the Greymouth CIB, said it was too early to determine the cause.
‘‘We are treating the fire as suspicious and how the fire started is undetermined at this stage,’’ he said.
Police had previously dealt with reports of thefts, vandalism and suspicious activity at the former school.
‘‘The fire also being in the middle of the day, also makes it a bit unusual,’’ he said.
Police would like to hear from anyone who had seen suspicious activity at the site (latterly known as Karoro Learning); people could phone 105 or Crimestoppers. — Greymouth Star