Firefighters have extinguished an early morning blaze that engulfed a church building at Saint Mary’s Catholic School in Auckland’s Avondale.
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) responded to reports of the building fire at about 4.15am, with seven crews attending the scene on Great North Rd.
The single-level church building, measuring 30 metres by 15 metres, was well involved in fire when crews arrived, a FENZ spokesperson said.
James Van Schie, Auckland Catholic Diocese general manager, told 1News that the fire was “absolutely devastating” for the Parish community.
“The extent of this fire is absolutely catastrophic. Nothing like this has ever happened before.” he said.
“There will be a time of real grief in our community. It’s going to be a very difficult time for our people”
Parish member Paula Betham told 1News said the building was “like another home” for members of the church.
“My daughter rung me this morning, and I didn’t believe it, so I had to come down and see it,” she said.
“We grew up here, made a lot of memories here, it’s not just a building to us.”
“We’re still here, we are the church, so we’ll keep it going.”
There are no reports of injury from the fire.
Police are working with fire investigators to establish the circumstances of the blaze.
There were road cordons in place but Great North Road is now open.
