Multiple churches and a funeral home in Masterton are now crime scenes, as police investigate a series of possible early-morning arsons that has shocked town, its mayor says.
In all, seven buildings have been targeted in the Wairarapa town, including four churches believed set alight between 4am and 5am today.
Police duty commissioner Bradley Allen said the Gary Pickering Funeral Home in Walton's Ave was also set on fire at 10am, but no one was in the building.
Police believe the funeral home was chosen because it has a chapel.
The attacks have taken police by surprise, he said. No arrests have been made but a dozen officers have been sent from Wellington and off-duty officers from the local station have been called in.
The method was the same in all cases: a petrol bomb was thrown through a window. All caught fire and there was some fire damage.
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said "damage to the churches ranged from moderate to significant".
"The fires are being treated as suspicious and have been referred to police."
Police said they checked other churches in the town and had found evidence that three other churches had been targeted but did not catch alight.
Three other churches targeted were also in Masterton: St James Union Church and the Kingdom Hall both in High Street, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the suburb of Lansdowne, police said.
By late this morning she had not been able to see inside the building to check the damage, but said they knew there was a broken window and fire damage in the front foyer.
The fires were a sad sad thing to happen and quite gutting, she said.
Masterton mayor Gary Caffell said the community was reeling from the news.
"[I'm] really shocked, and the community is shocked as well, I mean you just don't expect something this sort of thing to happen, and particularly in a place like Masterton."
The congregation did not yet know if the church would be able to open for worshippers on Sunday, but had been offered other places to hold their service.
Emergency services were still investigating the fire and Cornford said he would not know the full extent of the damage until they were finished.
However, he said he was aware of some broken and blackened windows, and that some of the rooms facing the road had been affected.
An RNZ reporter at the scene this morning said charred damage could be seen inside the church building behind broken window glass.
The smell of burning was strong and the beeping of what could have been an alarm continued well into the morning.
Another building on the church grounds was also cordoned off, but it was not clear if that had been damaged.
He said ultimately it was the people that made the church, and fortunately none of them had been harmed.
"The building that we're in has been a place that we've been able to love and serve the community in lots of different ways over the last 30 years, and we'll continue to do so.
"It's a shame that has been attempted to be disrupted."
FENZ said crews responded from throughout Wairarapa and from as far away as Avalon Station in Lower Hutt.
Officers remained at the churches throughout the morning with firefighters, and would also patrol Masterton, Featherston and Carterton.
