Man arrested in connection with suspicious fire in Napier

Police say a man has been arrested in connection with one of three suspicious fires which happened in central Napier on Monday morning.

Emergency services were called to reports of smoke coming from a building on Raffles Street, which then caught alight, at about 12.50am.

Just over 10 minutes later Fire and Emergency were called to St Paul's Presbyterian Church on nearby Tennyson Street which was well involved by the time crews arrived.

Five fire trucks with two support vehicles fought the blaze which was brought under control an hour later.

A police spokesperson confirmed the fire was being treated as suspicious.

There were no reports of injuries, but on Monday St Paul's co-minister Mark Johnston told RNZ the building had suffered extensive damage.

"The body of the church has been pretty devastated by fire and water damage. The internals of the church [are] pretty much burnt out. The roof structure is still intact ... there was metal framing inside the structure ... but you can see the tin roof from inside now," he said.

Several hours later FENZ crews responded to a suspicious fire in an alleyway in Market Street.

A 47-year-old man is facing charges of wilfully setting fire to the Market Street property and arson after he was identified walking away from the scene on CCTV camera footage.

The man has been remanded in custody and was due to appear in Napier District Court on 18 November.

A police spokesperson said they were continuing to investigate the fires on Tennyson and Raffles Street.