Suspicious fire at Auckland funeral home 'gut-wrenching'

The owner of an Auckland funeral home damaged in a suspicious fire overnight says she can't understand why anyone would have targeted their Mt Wellington cottage.

"We are devastated to tell you someone broke into our cottage last night and set two large fires," Aroha Funerals posted on Facebook.

Owner and director Janet Mikkelsen told 1News she was shocked by the "gut-wrenching" incident.

"I initially thought when they talked about a small fire, I was thinking it was just going to be something little and I was just worried I'd left a candle going or something.

"But no, it's much more than that...It's just hugely upsetting for me, we love our little cottage, it's a beautiful place and so many families see it as a really special tapu place, and it's terribly upsetting that it could be so damaged."

Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Armstrong of the Auckland City Criminal Investigation Branch said officers responded to the fire just before midnight.

"At this stage we are treating the circumstances surrounding the fire as suspicious," he said, asking anyone with information to call 105.

Mikkelsen said it looked like furniture had been moved before the fire.

"It seems like a whole lot of stuff was put into our office and set on fire, so furniture, bookcases, chairs, tables. Quite a lot of stuff has been piled up which clearly we didn't do. It's so upsetting that someone would think that was an OK thing to do.

"I just don't understand that."

Police are working with Fire and Emergency (FENZ) investigators.

"We're just a little wee company. We're all women, we do such caring, lovely work for families at a really difficult time...It just upsets me, the whole feeling that that specialness has been trampled on," Mikkelsen said.

Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand president Rachel Benns said she was saddened to hear of the incident.

"It's very unusual...I can't recall in my time that we've ever had an arson attack at a funeral home," she said. "We tend to be left alone if buildings get tagged, the taggers respectfully leave funeral homes alone.

"If we're out of action, we can't care for the bereaved and care for our families, that's the part that's sad."