Fire and Emergency were alerted to a fire at the Piarere Hall, located at 5920 State Highway 29, by a truck driver just after 10.30pm.
Fire and Emergency fire investigator Kevin Holmes said fire crews from Matamata, Tirau and Cambridge attended the incident with four pumping appliances and three water trucks.
“There is no water supply on-site, so we had to call in water trucks which went ... [back and forth] to Tirau to get water.”
He said the fire was “totally involved” by the time the crews arrived on site.
“The fire was brought under control around midnight, but the fire totally destroyed the building, the entire building was gutted.”
Fire crews were still at the scene earlier today to dampen down hot spots.
Investigations into the cause of the fire are still ongoing.
He said while he couldn’t share any details yet, Fire and Emergency knew where the fire started.
Piarere Hall custodian Frank Healey, who has looked after the hall since the late 1980s, said the local community was “very sad”.
“I’ve been down there a few times this morning ... Fire and Emergency were still there going through things.
“[The Hall] has been a bit of a central place for the Piarere community. We will certainly miss it.
“It was built in 1958 by the local community, on land [donated] by the community, and we look after it still, so it was a true, old-school community hall.”
He said while the hall didn’t get used every week, “someone utilises it monthly.”
“Just last week, we had a function there.”
Healy said there weren’t any plans for a replacement of the hall or an alternative meeting place yet.
“Look, it all just happened. We are not sure yet.”
According to the Matamata-Piako District Council website, the hall had capacity for 100 people and facilities including a kitchen with an oven and sink, a stage and a piano.
