Introduction to Fire Safety Management

8.5
Case study
Recent arson attack at a school in North West 
England – estimated loss £1.2 million
The fi re was discovered at 00.39 hours by the 
school janitor. The largest school block, which housed 
16 teaching rooms, the library, main offi ce, pastoral 
offi ces, the head teacher and deputy’s offi ces together 
with the staff room, was almost completely destroyed. 
The block also housed both the history and geography 
departments which were also completely wiped out. 
The modern languages, mathematics, English, special 
educational needs and RE departments lost a large 
proportion of their resources.
The devastation and trauma was summed up 
by the head teacher: ‘The fi rst reaction is shock and 
numbness, followed by total disbelief and then realisa-
tion that 25 years of resources have gone; that all the 
carefully collected photographs, booklets and artefacts 
from all over Europe have gone; that all the paperwork 
for the administration of public examinations has gone, 
and all the school text books and personal belongings 
have gone.’
The timing of the fi re was particularly unfortunate; as 
Year 9 SATS were to be held later in the week and GCSE 
examinations were due to begin within the next month. 
The pressure placed upon heads of each subject was 
enormous as they were required to contact examination 
boards to discuss what arrangements could be made for 
loss of coursework and pupils’ revision material. There 
was considerable torment facing many pupils who had 
lost work as part of their studies, some of which was 
ready to be examined by the examination board.
As an interim measure the burnt-out classrooms 
were replaced by temporary accommodation units and 
the school had a derelict building at its centre for over a 
year, becoming a demolition site and then a building site, 
before restoration works had been completed. These 
circumstances were obviously not conducive to market-
ing the school, and pupil recruitment and the sixth form 
suffered in particular. This had a massive effect on the 
school budget resulting in a large defi cit, from which the 
school has struggled to recover.
Clearly insuffi 
cient preventive and protective 
measures were in place, which allowed the arsonist to 
carry out the attack; the post-fi re arrangements included 
a comprehensive arson and fi re risk assessment with an 
action plan to prevent recurrence.