Investigations underway after Hoxton school blaze
More than 100 firefighters and 20 fire engines battled a large blaze at the Thomas Fairchild School in Hoxton, east London, yesterday
31 July 2009
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FIRE investigators were today trying to determine if a blaze which destroyed an east London school was deliberately lit.
More than 100 firefighters battled the fire as it ripped through Thomas Fairchild primary school in Hackney yesterday afternoon.
Eye-witnesses said flames soared 40ft above Napier Grove as huge clouds of thick smoke billowed across the neighbourhood.
Around a dozen toddlers who were at a playgroup on the school grounds had to be evacuated.
Two men and a woman were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation by ambulance officers.
Efforts to bring the blaze under control were hampered by strong winds.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said it was eventually contained just after 9pm.
He added that officers were still damping down the three-storey building this morning.
The spokesman said: “All of the school's three floors, as well as its basement and roof were badly damaged by the fire.
“Fire crews from stations including Kingsland, Stoke Newington, Euston, Clerkenwell, Dowgate, Islington, Holloway, Shoreditch, Shadwell and Bow attended the incident.
“The cause of the blaze is under investigation.”
Police went door-to-door to warn residents to close their windows as the acrid smoke enveloped Napier Grove.
The school’s pupils were on holiday.
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