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Suspicious fire at former Petone college - Source: ONE News -
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Five Lower Hutt teenagers are being referred to Youth Aid in connection with a suspicious fire at the old Petone Technical College on Friday evening.
The Fire Service and police were called about 5.30pm to the blaze which had started in the top floor of a school block.
Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Borrell, officer in charge of the Lower Hutt CIB, said five boys aged between 13 and 15 have been spoken to by police.
Borrell has thanked members of the public who "provided police with very useful information that has helped us enormously in successfully concluding this investigation".
He said police are thankful none of the five youths were injured "or worse" in the fire.
It appeared from a scene examination that the group set some rubbish and flammable items alight. Police believed the group fled the scene when it got out of control.
Borrell said communities in the Wellington District can be assured there is not a serial arsonist at work.
"The old Petone Technical College has been the subject of a number of fires over the years, as have other derelict buildings in our area. Buildings such as these can be a crime attractant that pose risk to our communities, as this incident has shown."
He said the police will be working with the council and owners to try and formulate effective strategies that lessen such risk.
Police said earlier that a copycat arsonist was one of the theories being looked at after a spate of suspicious fires in the Wellington region.
A dozen suspicious fires had the city on the hunt for a firebug the weekend before last. A 43-year-old man later appeared in Lower Hutt District Court charged with 10 counts of arson and one of attempted arson.
But there were fires at Muhunoa East School near Levin and at Wellington's Basin Reserve last Friday night as well as the Petone college fire.
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