Lichfield Cathedral School hit by big blaze

Hundreds of pupils were evacuated from a school in Staffordshire after a laptop computer exploded.

Students at Lichfield Cathedral School were today told to stay home while investigations into the blaze continued.

Thirty firefighters from across the region rushed to tackle the flames – and stop them spreading to the historic cathedral nearby.

Click on the image on the right to see more pictures from the scene.

The fire broke out at the school, situated in The Close, at 2.30pm yesterday. A total of 200 pupils had to be evacuated.

It started in an office area on the first floor of the School House building, leaving the room gutted and causing substantial damage to surrounding rooms.

Eyewitness Jason Griffin, aged 23, of Pebblemill Close, Cannock, was taking photographs of the cathedral when the fire broke out. "The alarm was going off and the kids were standing outside," he said.

"It looked like it was well ablaze but the fire engines arrived pretty quickly."

Headteacher Michael Chanter said no- one was hurt in the fire.

"All the pupils and staff were evacuated quickly and safely from the building," he said.

"The Middle and Senior Schools on the Lichfield site will be today.

"We would like to say thank you to the firefighters as well as to our pupils for excellent behaviour."

Firefighters remained at the scene overnight as a precaution and investigations were continuing today.

At the height of the blaze, crews from Lichfield, Tamworth, Chase Terrace, Burton and Barton under Needwood were in attendance.

Phil McFarlane, lead officer for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue, said so many firefighters were needed to ensure the flames did not spread to the cathedral.

"We wanted to be ahead of the incident rather than thinking we are under-resourced," he said. "Our crews extracted water from Stowe Pool to extinguish the flames.

"The fire has gutted the office area and there has been a heavy smoke-log throughout the building."

The Very Rev Adrian Dorber, Dean of Lichfield Cathedral, is chairman of governors at the school.

He said: "It seems a laptop in the middle of the building in the learning support room just exploded, with the fire spreading quickly.

"There were 200 pupils in the whole of the building at the time so they were evacuated.

"I would imagine the building will be closed for a considerable time."

Hours later crews tackled another big blaze, when a fire broke out at a warehouse in Fradley.

Residents were told to stay inside while potentially dangerous smoke billowed into the sky.