Investigations ongoing as third fire in 13 months hits Ross-shire school
Park Primary Parent Council Chair Mark Lancaster says there are concerns among the Invergordon community
Last updated 18th Mar 2021
For the third time in just over a year an Easter Ross school has been hit by a blaze.
Police say enquiries are ongoing as they suspect the empty Park Primary was set on fire yesterday evening at around 6:10pm.
It comes only weeks after the school was in flames.
The blaze on February 27th happened almost a year exactly after the first fire broke out at Park Primary.
Preparations were underway to allow the pupils, who have been attending Invergordon Academy, to return just before last month's fire hit.
Park Primary Parent Council Chair, Mark Lancaster, says there are fears among the community.
He said: "Obviously within the wider community, there is concerns and rumours as to what occurred last night.
"There is now a security prescience on site. We had been assured that the site had been secured to the relevant standard previous to that by Highland Council.
"We have been engaging with Highland Council over the last year, and that process is now almost restarting.
"Parents are concerned about the timescales in which these things take."
However, Mr Lancaster is grateful for Highland Council's staff determination.
He added: "We can only thank the hard work of the teachers and the Highland Council.
"We were wanting to get the children back to their own school for their own wellbeing and to help with that provision.
"Also, to help the Academy students who don't need that a Primary school inside their own buildings."
Police Scotland are appealing to anyone with information on yesterday evening's incident to get in touch.
Detective Sergeant Eoin Coull said: "Fortunately no one was injured and the fire was quickly contained and extinguished by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
"We believe this fire was started deliberately and I would urge anyone who saw anything suspicious, particularly people within the school grounds to get in touch.
"This is not the first wilful fire raising at this location and this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated. Officers are working to find those responsible.
"If you can help with our investigation please call 101, quoting incident 2709 of Wednesday, 17 March, or make a call anonymously to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."