Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Fire and Emergency says it has twice before attended suspicious fires at an abandoned Levin building destroyed in a blaze overnight - most recently just over a month ago.
Crews alerted to the fire just before 4am today found the former Garden View resthome on Bath Street well involved when they arrived.
Manawatū-Whanganui assistant commander Craig Gold said crews were familiar with the two-storey property.
"Last night when we were made aware of the fire, we knew the building, we'd been there previously. We knew it was scheduled for demolition, so we prioritised protecting the houses at the back and the church to the right rather than actually extinguishing the fire, so we let the majority of it burn."
He said 80 percent of the building was destroyed, with just two small walls still standing. Demolition of the rest of the structure will begin today.
"We had multiple crews there, but we've scaled back to just one fire crew. We have a crew that covers Levin during the day Monday to Friday and they're on standby as the building owners bring in some demolition equipment to start demolishing what's left of the building."
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said, at its peak, six fire appliances, a ladder truck, and a command unit attended from six fire stations.
The spokesperson said the fire was being treated as suspicious.
Police confirmed they were investigating, and told RNZ they wanted to hear from anyone with information about the fire.