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The owner of Waiuku Business Park says it’s a “relief” that a person has been charged following a fire that tore through one of the businesses on the site on Monday night.
Sam Wulff travelled up from Tauranga at first light on Tuesday, November 25, amid a blaze that tore through recycling company, Future Post, based at the site.
The fire broke out just before 11pm on Monday, at the commercial site on Kitchener Road, causing extensive damage.
Acting Detective Inspector Chris Robson, of Counties Manukau CIB, said a search warrant was executed at a Waiuku property on Tuesday night.
“A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the property and has been charged with arson.”
The man appeared in the Pukekohe District Court on November 26.
“The fire has caused extensive damage,” Robson said.
Wulff told the Franklin Times he was “relieved” and “thrilled” that an arrest had been made over the incident.
“I’m thrilled to hear that someone has been charged so quickly, as all the tenants have been living in fear over what may have happened next,” he said.
“If someone was lighting fires for no apparent reason, it was very worrying and concerning to all our tenants.”
He said none of the tenants were materially affected at all except for those at Future Post.
“I was very, very concerned about someone wandering around with a bad attitude and then might decide to re-offend; that was our fear.
“That is now resolved,” Wulff said.
Fire crews from 16 districts around the Auckland region responded, with firefighters working throughout Monday night to extinguish the blaze. No injuries were reported.
The fire was extinguished by 10.15am Tuesday, with the site handed back to the owners as specialist investigators worked to determine the cause.
