A fire at a former mental health facility on the West Coast is being treated as arson, and police want to speak to a person seen walking across the grounds before the blaze.
Emergency services responded to multiple reports of a large fire at the old Hokitika Seaview hospital complex at around 7am on Sunday. There were no reports of any injuries.
Police initially treated the fire as suspicious, and now, after a long scene examination, an arson investigation was underway.
“The scene examination took the better part of Sunday and half of Monday to complete, involving both fire and police investigators,” Detective Sergeant Graham Parsons said. “Based on the scene examination, the fire is being investigated as an arson.”
Parsons said police wanted to identify and speak with a person who was spotted walking across the grounds of the complex at around 3.20am on Sunday.
Anyone with information about the person or the fire was asked to call police on 105.
“Police will continue to investigate and would like to hear from any people who may have information that may assist with identifying who was involved in the arson,” Parsons said.
At its peak, seven fire trucks, two water tankers, and several support vehicles from six brigades were at the scene of the blaze.
Seaview Asylum, later known as Seaview Hospital, was a psychiatric facility north of Hokitika.
It opened in 1872 and operated until 2009, making it one of the longest-running mental health institutions in the country. It housed 549 patients and was at one time Hokitika’s largest employer.
