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Police Investigate Fire At Thame School June 2007
THE extent of the fire that destoyed the drama studio at Lord Williams's Lower school, Thame, last night, can be seen from this photograph taken by Alistair Box at the height of the fire.
Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service were called 21:42 yesterday evening (01/07/2007) to reports of a severe fire in progress at Lord Williams Secondary Lower School (East), Towersey Road, Thame.
Ten rescue pumps from Thame, Wheatley, Watlington, Slade Park – Oxford, as well as appliances from Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue from Aylesbury, Brill & Princess Risborough with sixty five firefighters attending the incident.
Specialist appliances attended from Woodstock, Eynsham, Kidlington, Rewley Road-Oxford & Waddesdon. Thames Valley Police & South Central Ambulance service also attended as a precautionary measure. |
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A police investigation, including Forensic teams, is going on at the school today where police have set up an incident room.
The investigation will include close scutiny of the tapes from nine CCTV cameras around the school site.
CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEOS TAKEN BY EYE WITNESSES
More than 80 schoolchildren and staff were evacuated from a fire at a North Wales school yesterday. The drama happened at 1.45pm at Ysgol BroTegid in Bala as the blaze broke out in the school's kitchen. Passers-by spotted flames coming from the roof and dialled 999.
Two fire engines were sent to the scene while teachers led the children from their desks into the playground.
The school's head teacher was unavailable for comment last night but parents praised staff for the calm manner in which the situation was handled.
One said: "It was only a minor fire but that wasn't known when the alarm was raised. The teachers handled the alarm without causing the children to panic and my son and daughter are full of stories about the firemen tonight."
Fire fighters from Bala and Corwen tackled the blaze which was confined to a vent in the kitchen.
A North Wales Fire Service spokeswoman said flames were initially reported to be coming from the roof of the 100- year old red-brick built building.
She said: "But on arrival firefighters discovered the flames were coming from a kitchen vent and the fire was quickly extinguished and the building given the all-clear just after 2.05pm."
An investigation by fire crews found the blaze is likely to have been started by workmen using blowtorches to repair a fan in the kitchen, which is separate from the main school building.
The fire caused some fire damage to the fibreglass vent and the wood surround in the roof space. The remainder of the building was unaffected.
A Gwynedd Council spokesman said: "The fire was extinguished within minutes by the Fire and Rescue Service and at no point was the safety of pupils or staff compromised.
"The Council's Health and Safety officers have visited the school, and have confirmed that no serious damage has been caused. As a result, the school will be open as usual tomorrow morning."
Written by Daily Post; Liverpool
Fire-hit primary school evacuated
Two hundred and thirty children and their teachers were evacuated from a primary school when fire broke out.
About 70 firefighters tackled the serious blaze at Lympne Church of England School, near Hythe, in Kent.
The school hall collapsed as a result of the fire and several other buildings were also gutted.
Pupils were led to safety and taken to Lympne Village Hall. The county council said they were "fed and watered" before being picked up by their parents.
'Really scary'
"They are all totally safe," said the council's director of operations, Ian Craig.
"It was pretty traumatic I would have thought for all of them, but we'll be working with the staff to make sure we offer any support we need to."
One young girl said the fire and evacuation had been "really scary, everyone was really crying and all our stuff was ruined".
Crews from Kent Fire and Rescue Service were called to the school, in Octavian Drive, just before 0945 BST on Wednesday.
Initial suggestions were that an electrical fault, possibly in a roof void above the staff room, was to blame.
Fire officer Paul Flaherty said the blaze was under control with crews now damping down.
"The damage is quite considerable," Mr Craig added.
"It doesn't look as if the children will be back at that school in the near future.
"We'll have to look into alternative provision as soon as possible."
Residents were told to keep windows shut as thick smoke billowed out from the school.
 
School fire devastation revisited
A fire which caused £3m worth of damage at an East Sussex school last year has been used to highlight the "devastating effects of arson".
On Monday, a special report on BBC's Newsround raised the fire service's concerns about the rising number of school fires - on average 25 a week.
Tideway School in Newhaven was set on fire last April damaging the main hall, library, staff room and 40 classrooms.
A boy was cleared at Lewes Crown Court last year of arson and burglary.
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The loss of course work, teachers' notes and resources can all be avoided
Adrian Brown
East Sussex Fire and Rescue |
Adrian Brown, senior fire safety officer at East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said the programme was to "raise awareness of young people on the consequences of arson and the subsequent fire damage".
He said revisiting the incident also raised the issue of what more could be done to protect schools from fire.
Mr Brown said the fire service had promoted installation of smoke detectors for many years, but sprinklers had also "shown their value".
Sprinkler campaign
"Nationally the Fire Service is very concerned with the rising number of school fires - on average 25 schools a week suffer a fire," he said.
"The loss of course work, teachers' notes and resources can all be avoided by the installation of sprinklers.
"There is also the worrying trend in the increase in school fires during the day and so sprinklers have a role to play in protecting our young people whilst they study."
Celia Barlow, Labour MP for Hove, has backed calls for sprinklers in schools.
She said: "They prevent casualties, they avoid great property damage caused by the fire and water to extinguish it and they help to save water because they fight the fire in its early stages."
Huge rise in deliberate fires in schools
More schools than ever in Britain are being set on fire deliberately putting children's lives at risk, says a new survey.
Around 16 schools a week suffer from some kind of fire damage, costing £1million every week, according to the research.
In 2001, arson attacks - fires started on purpose - cost £56m to fix, a huge rise from previous years.
This money could have been spent on other things in schools, like improving computer facilities.
Arson and vandalism in schools are usually more common during holidays.
But in West Yorkshire alone, there were 33 deliberate school fires which were started while pupils were still in class.
Most fires are started for fun in rubbish bins and toilets. And because they are often small fires, they often aren't usually reported.
School arson - an investigation
By Lizzy Lambley
BBC Newsround |
Each year around 840 UK schools are victims of arson attacks mostly by children connected with the school.
For the first time, BBC's Newsround programme is to take the form of a half hour documentary to highlight the issue.
"We start fires and that mostly because it's boring. Um..it's nice innit, the heat and stuff."
It's a typical explanation from a kid who starts fire. But what many school children don't realise is that whether it's accidental through play or deliberate, they are committing the crime of arson and it doesn't take much before a blaze can be out of control and deadly.
Every week 20 schools suffer an arson attack and it's almost always children starting the blazes. Last year 1,315 young people were found guilty of deliberately starting fires. Most of them were boys.
Simon and Mike didn't think lighting the loo roll would burn part of their school down, cause thousands of pounds worth of damage and destroy irreplaceable course work.
Criminal record
They were also ostracised by their friends, given a criminal record and expelled from the school they actually enjoyed going to.
Their story is not unusual. Most deliberate fires started in UK schools are started by a child with some connection to the school.
Toilets and cloakrooms are the most likely places for fires to start. Many of the attacks aren't planned.
"Children can start fires for a whole range of reasons" according to psychologist Jack Kennedy, an expert in child arson.
"I guess it ranges from revenge, anger fear, a whole diversity of emotions."
Motivations
Sometimes the fires are started by groups, typically from very disadvantaged backgrounds but sometimes it is individual children and those, says Kennedy, are more worrying.
"Their motivations tend to be more deep rooted or more complex for us to understand.
Many of them would start fires because they are bored, and because there is nothing to do in the communities. It's a great thing to do to start a fire, it's an exciting thing to do and see the effect of it.
"Many do it solitary and they are often engaging with the fire as if it is their friend. They feel they have some sort of control, mastery over it. Perhaps control they don't have in other parts of their lives. They can place themselves in really vulnerable situations because of it.
" Local authorities have been setting up arson task forces to look at ways of combating the problem. The key message is prevention, educating children about the dangers of playing with fire.
The Arson Task Force in Merseyside has started putting fire fighters in schools.
In Leicester a special anti arson CCTV van tours the suburbs. Cleveland's Arson Task Force carry out school audits to try to protect vulnerable parts of the building from fire attacks.
But while the initiatives have helped reduce the problem of arson, there is still a long way to go.
Another factor is increasing the risk of death or serious injury. "Until recently two-thirds of school fires were out of school hours" says Ian Rawlings from West Midlands Arson Task Force. "Those figures have now changed. It's actually half of all school fires are happening during school hours."
Sprinklers
Fire and rescue teams up and down the country believe schools should be equipped with sprinklers but there is no law to force that to happen.
Pupils at Temple Meadow Primary school in the West Midlands were so worried about school fires in their area they wrote to the local council to ask for sprinklers. They were told they'd be too expensive to fit.
Weeks later the school suffered an arson attack. Today rebuilding work is well under way at the school but the new block is being built without a sprinkler system.
Around 90,000 children have their education disrupted because of arson attacks and it costs the economy billions of pounds.
But perhaps most worryingly in the words of Ian Rawlings: "It's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or, worse than that, someone gets killed."
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