Hartlepool primary school 'devastated' after fire causes serious damage

  • Watch Rachel Bullock's report.

A Hartlepool primary school has been left "devastated" after a fire caused serious damage to the building.

Cleveland Fire Brigade were called to Brougham Primary School around 10:45pm on Sunday 13 August and the was brought under control just after midnight. They had to smash windows to get access to the fire.

The fire brigade said there had been "100%" smoke damage to the nursery and light smoke damage to the rest of the school. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

The school now faces a race against time to open for the start of the new term in just three weeks.

The school suffered serious smoke damage in the fire. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

"We're devastated," Andy Brown of AS ASTRA Academy Trust, told ITV Tyne Tees: It's so sad that we will have to start again from scratch. It's going to take a while to sort out.

"We're hopeful we can have some partial reopening so the children are not affected but I'll have to phone parents nearer the time about that.

"We are working very closely with the police and fire brigade. We have had some informal feedback from them and have people on site now trying to correct things and make them safe.

"My message to parents is that this is a very resilient staff and we will work very hard to get your children in school for September."

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