School fires bring fresh impetus to calls for sprinklers

Firefighters were called out to three incidents at primary schools in Bristol and Ipswich and at a secondary school in East London

Reports of a fire at Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney were received by London Fire Brigade at around 9am on the morning of Saturday 7 December. In response, 10 fire appliances and approximately 70 firefighters were mobilised from Homerton, Stoke Newington, and Tottenham fire stations.

On arrival, the fire was found to have taken hold on the second floor of a purpose-built block at the secondary school, with fire crews using a 32-metre turntable ladder to tackle the fire from above.

The ground floor of the building was evacuated, as 19 pupils and members of staff made their way to safety, with no injuries reported.

The fire was brought under control around 11:30am, but two classrooms and one washroom were completely destroyed by the blaze.

Founded in 2004, Mossbourne Community Academy is attended by around 1,500 students, aged 11-18. The academy group has not yet commented on the fire, the cause of which is currently under investigation.

The following day, Avon Fire and Rescue Service (AFRS) received calls of a “severe fire” at St Michael’s Primary School in Stoke Gifford, Bristol.

The alarm was raised around 9:30pm on Sunday 8 December with around 40 crews from across the Bristol area in attendance. Speaking to the BBC, a fire service spokesperson said: “We're at the scene of a severe fire and we would encourage people to stay away from the area and to keep doors and windows shut."

Although the fire was extinguished after 15 minutes and no injuries were reported, AFRS confirmed that there was smoke damage to the school buildings and that crews would remain on site to investigate the cause of the fire.

The school’s headteacher, Pete Barnard, confirmed that the school would be closed whilst this work was done, saying in an email to parents: "The fire is out, but due to the investigation needing to take place in the morning and relevant organisations needing to sign off the building being safe, we will be unable to open to children.

"Everyone is safe (including the chickens) and accounted for, and I apologise for the inconvenience. We hope we will be open to children on Tuesday [10 December]."

As reported by the Bristol Post, locals took to Facebook to offer their thoughts, with one writing: “Our poor school. Thinking of all the children, parents, and of course, the teachers and headteacher who will be utterly devastated. Praying the damage is not too severe."

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) also received a callout just after 3:30pm on Monday 9 December to Otley Primary School, near Ipswich. Seven crews from Ipswich East, Princes Street, Woodbridge, and Framlingham were deployed to deal with a fire, believed to have started in a toilet which had then spread to the roof.

The firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control by 6pm, and there were no injuries reported. However, with investigations into the cause of the fire continuing into the following morning, the school also remained shut.

With schools being key centres of education and care, as well as vital community assets, the FPA has made the protection of schools from fire one of the key planks of its 2024 policy manifesto.

In light of these recent incidents, the FPA continues to call on government to require the installation of sprinkler systems in all new and majorly refurbished schools across the UK, a position similarly taken by the National Fire Chiefs Council.

You can read the full FPA manifesto here.