Alicetown community centre has been significantly damaged by fire. Photo: PHIL PENNINGTON / RNZ
The co-ordinator of a Lower Hutt community centre severely damaged by a fire early on Thursday morning says it's a big loss for locals.
Fire and Emergency was called to the blaze at Transition Towns Community Centre in Alicetown in the early hours, and it was well involved by the time they arrived at 2.30am.
A spokesperson could not yet say whether fireworks sparked the blaze. A fire investigator was looking into what caused it, they said.
Transition Towns Lower Hutt co-ordinator Pam Crisp said the house had been a special space for the community.
"It's been used for... decades by all sorts of groups in the community across the Hutt Valley, including addiction groups, and sustainability," she said.
Transition Towns - an organisation focusing on social change and sustainability - ran some activities there, said Crisp.
But as it was owned by Hutt City Council, several community groups also rented it.
"Alcoholics Anonymous groups, or knitting groups, or people looking at philosophy and life skills... there's a toy library there that operates on Saturday mornings. It's certainly an important part of the community and culturally as well," she said.
Transition Towns member Bruce Anderson said the council would decide what to do with the damaged property.
"It looks perfectly repairable in the sense that it's basically only an open space that has been heavily damaged," he said.
"Two thirds of the house, three quarters of it remain sound."
As of now, however, the house was "unusable", he said.
Hutt City Council has been approached for comment.
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