The owner of the Mt Wellington funeral home set alight in a "suspicious fire" on Tuesday morning is "hurt and devastated".
Police were called just before midnight on Monday to a fire at Aroha Funerals on Ellerslie-Panmure Highway.
Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Armstrong said in a statement to Newshub, the circumstances surrounding the fire are being treated as "suspicious" and they're investigating.
"As part of our ongoing enquiries, we will be liaising with Fire and Emergency investigators."
Det Snr Sgt Armstrong said police are currently guarding the scene, with a scene examination expected to be completed.
Owner and director of Aroha Funerals Janet Mikkelsen told Newshub at first she believed it was just a small fire.
"I was just in bed asleep and it was the fire brigade that rang us and from what I understood from when I was still dazed, there was a small fire and we just needed to come and secure the premises," she said.
"All I thought was, 'Dear me have I left a candle going?' But when we got here, we realised it was much bigger. The road was closed off, fire engines everywhere, police cars."
Mikkelsen can't understand why someone would want to set a "sacred place" alight.
"[I'm] hurt and devastated and it's just so hard to understand actually why someone would do something like this to a sacred place, it's a tapu place, this is somewhere people come at a time of grief and sadness," she told Newshub.
"It's such a safe place generally for people to come to, they love being here and that's really upsetting that someone would target that or trash on those kinds of values."
Mikkelsen said it was clear someone had broken in as furniture was moved from other rooms to start the fire.
"There are definitely signs of forced entry, all our security systems were gone, our power was turned off, so there are various things and all the furniture had been moved and piled up in one place and set on fire," an emotional Mikkelsen said.
"It's really upsetting. There are a couple of rooms where the ceilings aren't there anymore, these holes right through to the other walls and piles of black rubble that used to be furniture, that used to be bookcases, that used to be computers."
The fire doesn't just upset her, it also affects the local community who they've served for nine and a half years.
"We've looked after something like 2500 families, most of them have been to our cottage, most of them have either talked to us or viewed their person here, so it's more than just me," she told Newshub.
"I've had so many wonderful messages from families and friends all saying how gutted they're and it is because it's a special place and it feels really sad that someone has chosen to ignore that."
