Huge blaze at old school

Firefighters were battling a huge blaze at a former Aberdeen school last night.

Six fire engines were called to the abandoned Cordyce School, off Riverview Drive in Dyce, at 11pm and crews were expected to remain there long into the morning.

The 32 firefighters were sent from stations across the city, and used a height vehicle to blast the inferno from above.

As the massive effort was launched, police sealed off Riverview Drive from the Asda store to the scene of the blaze. A spokeswoman for the fire service said: “It is quite a big fire, and crews had to wait for the arrival of the height vehicle before they could tackle it. It is expected that they will be at the scene for many hours.”

A police spokesman added: “We were asked to assist with road closures.”

Cordyce School has been unoccupied since August, and was scheduled to permanently close in April. The secondary was left without pupils after young people with mental, emotional and social support needs were incorporated into mainstream schools.

While the building remained standing, but not used as a school, the council had to pay £82,000 in nondomestic rates for it and the authority ran a public consultation on plans to close it last month.

“Crews had to wait for the arrival of the height vehicle”

Photograph by Colin Rennie

Photograph by Colin Rennie SKY OF SMOKE: Crews take on the fire at the abandoned Cordyce School in Dyce.