The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Boy, 14, charged over blaze that destroyed school
DUNFERMLINE: Two firefighters injured tackling outbreak
A 14-year-old boy is expected to appear in court today in connection with a fierce blaze that ripped through a Fife secondary school.
Two firefighters were taken to hospital during the battle to douse the flames at Woodmill High in Dunfermline on Sunday, which caused extensive damage and left 1,400 pupils and staff “utterly devastated”.
Youngsters have been told to study at home for the rest of this week until education leaders come up with a contingency plan for the longer term.
Fife Council said getting pupils back in school as quickly as possible was its “absolute priority” and all options were being investigated.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose nephews attend Woodmill, said the Scottish Government was ready to offer support.
A 14-year-old boy is expected to appear in court today in connection with a ferocious blaze that ravaged a Fife high school and left two firefighters in hospital.
The teenager was charged yesterday morning after flames tore through Woodmill High in Dunfermline, creating an uncertain future for 1,400 pupils and leaving staff “utterly devastated”.
The fire service said the “significant” incident saw three firefighters suffer from the effects of the heat, which was exacerbated by the hot weather.
Incident commander Roddie Keith confirmed two of them were taken to hospital as a precaution and have since recovered.
While the damage has yet to be fully assessed, rector Sandy McIntosh described it as extensive and confirmed the school would be closed for at least the rest of this week.
Pupils will be helped to continue their studies from home in the meantime and longer-term contingency plans will likely be announced in the coming days.
School dinners will continue to be provided at other schools and community centres from Wednesday, where Woodmill staff will be on hand to speak to youngsters.
Fife Council said getting pupils back in school as quickly as possible was its “absolute priority” and all options were being investigated, while the Scottish Government has pledged its support.
Schools across Fife and beyond have also offered to help in any way they can.
Mr McIntosh said: “We’re still at the early stages of assessing the damage, although it is clearly extensive.
“We’re looking at all our options for accommodating pupils in both the short and long term.
“We realise this is a difficult time for our families and the wider community and we’ll be putting in place a range of support in the coming days and weeks.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose nephews attend Woodmill, described the blaze as devastating.
“It will take some time to be clear about the extent of the damage and what the implications will be for teachers and pupils there but we’ll work as closely as possible with Fife Council in order that the disruption to people is minimised,” she said.
The blaze broke out at around 5pm on Sunday and quickly engulfed the Department for Additional Support (DAS) before spreading to the dinner hall and then the rest of the school.
More than 80 firefighters from across Scotland battled the inferno throughout the night, finally extinguishing the flames yesterday morning.
The school, in the east of Dunfermline, mainly houses children from the town’s rapidly-growing eastern expansion and is at capacity.
With neighbouring schools also bursting at the seams, the job to decant pupils will not be easy.
Fife Council education convener Fay Sinclair said: “We’re talking about 1,400 pupils displaced from the school at least for the short term.
“Dunfermline’s been a rapidlygrowing town over recent years.
“All of the schools are very full so there’s not an immediate place to move all of these pupils to.”
Conservative councillor Kathleen Leslie taught at Woodmill’s DAS, where there are currently 70 pupils, before she was elected.
“I know how devastating this will be to pupils and staff,” she said.
“Many of the children in the department have complex learning needs and school is a place where they feel safe and nurtured,” she said.
“It will be very difficult to explain to many of them what has happened to their school.”
The Dunfermline community has been praised for the heartening way they pulled together during Sunday night’s drama.
A police spokesperson said: “Officers would like to thank members of the public who came forward with information in relation to this incident, as well as those who provided the police and fire service personnel in attendance with refreshments during the extremely hot conditions they found themselves working in.”