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Firefighters tackle major fire at Southend school

Firefighters have been tackling a major fire at a school in Southend.

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Major fire at Southend school 'not deliberate'

Firefighters tackle the blaze yesterday. Credit: Essex Fire and Rescue Service

It's been confirmed a major fire at a school in Southend yesterday wasn't started deliberately.

12 crews were sent to the Cecil Jones Academy and firefighters had to use water from a nearby swimming pool to help bring it under control.

Firefighters have been dampening down overnight in a bid to save as much of the building as possible.

Crews worked in extremely arduous conditions at this incident, and did an excellent job to contain the fire to the one building.

We were also made aware that the building contained a science lab which had some hazardous materials.

Although the room was far away from the fire, crews entered the building and removed these materials for the safety of the incident.

The fire investigation has been carried out, and we can confirm that there wasn't any malicious or suspicious circumstances.

– Incident Commander Neil Fenwick

The academy's CEO Bev Williams says the school will be open tomorrow for GCSE results day.

Firefighters tackle blaze at a school in Essex

Fire crews were tackling a fire on the roof of a building that's part of the Cecil Jones Academy Credit: Essex Fire and Rescue

Essex fire and rescue have been tackling a fire at a school in Southend this evening.

Crews were called at 4.30pm to the Cecil Jones Academy on Eastern Avenue. The roof of the two storey building was alight. 12 fire engines attended the scene.

The fire is now out and no one is believed to have been injured.

12 fire engines attended the scene Credit: Essex Fire and Rescue

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