School re-opens in Inverness following blaze
An Inverness school will re-open today following a fire within the building at the weekend.
An Inverness school will re-open today following a fire within the building at the weekend.
Balloch Primary and nursery were closed yesterday to allow officials to clear debris from the blaze, which is believed to have been caused by an electrical issue.
Highland Council say the twenty P6/5 pupils usually taught in the affected building will be temporarily relocated to the general purposes room in the main school building.
Fire crews say damage to the classroom was extensive.
Station Manager Alex McKinley, the incident commander, said: “Our crews arrived to find smoke issuing from a traditionally-built, single-storey sandstone building which was approximately 20m by 10m in size.
“Two teams of two firefighters were committed wearing breathing apparatus. They gained entry and began aggressive firefighting using two high pressure jets.
He continued: “The building was very heavily smoke-logged so our firefighters were operating in challenging conditions. They successfully extinguished the fire and worked to ventilate the premises, which had sustained severe smoke damage.”
The cost of the fire and works required to restore the classroom are not yet known.