Years of history ‘gutted’
Classrooms at a Christchurch high school with years of history have been ‘‘totally gutted’’ by a fire early yesterday morning.
Linwood College principal Dick Edmundson was woken at 3am to news a building at the Aldwins Rd site was ablaze.
He headed straight there to find fire had ‘‘consumed the top storey, and I imagine the bottom storey’’ of one classroom block.
‘‘The bottom had water going through it so even if not burned, it’s wasted,’’ Edmundson said.
‘‘I felt incredibly sad that, even though they are unoccupied, with all the history that has been in this building, there had been a fire. No-one likes to think of their school having that happen to it.’’
But he remained positive. ‘‘It could be worse, and has been worse. It feels bad enough on an unoccupied site, which shows how ghastly it is for a fully functioning site.’’
It is understood the fire is being treated as suspicious.
The school was due to be demolished later this year to make way for a new $44 million school on the same site.
The college relocated to a temporary site on Avonside Drive in July – where Avonside Girls’ High School was before it moved to North New Brighton – to make way for its rebuild.
Edmundson said demolition had not yet begun, but it had been undergoing ground testing and asbestos work.
He said he ‘‘wouldn’t expect [the fire] to be a problem’’ for the rebuild plans.
‘‘I will be very glad when the demolition begins and there is more activity on site.’’
The new school was due to open on the site in the middle of
2021.
Fire shift manager Darryl Ball said six fire trucks were called to the Christchurch campus at
2.45am yesterday, where fire crews found a 100 metre by 30m two-storey classroom ablaze.
There was ‘‘extensive damage’’, Ball said.
Investigations are under way.
‘‘I felt sad that... with all the history in this building, there had been a fire.’’ Principal Dick Edmundson