Fire at Linwood College arson

A person broke into Christchurch’s old Linwood College site and started two separate fires over the weekend, a fire investigator says.

Linwood College principal Dick Edmundson was woken at 3am on Monday to the news a building at the currently unoccupied Aldwins Rd site was ablaze. He arrived at the school to find the top storey of the building engulfed in flames.

Specialist fire investigator Bruce Irvine said the site had been secured with security fencing but there were multiple signs of forced entry. ‘‘This particular fire ... started in two separate areas of the old school site,’’ Irvine said.

The old site had been subject to vandalism during the past few months, with multiple windows and fencing broken. The two fires caused extensive damage, he said.

An active arson investigation was under way, he said.

Irvine said the help of the community would be essential in finding who was behind the arson, and urged anyone with information to contact police.

‘‘These fires caused significant problems for our fire crews and the damage done to the classrooms is extensive.

‘‘There were no building systems in place as it’s a demolition site, which made it much harder for our firefighters. Luckily the public safety risk is low.’’

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 Dr in July – where Avonside Girls’ High School was before it moved to its new site in North New Brighton – to make way for its rebuild.