Firefighters stop Small Heath school going up in flames after arson attack

Oct 21 2009 by Rebekah Oruye, Birmingham Mail

SWIFT action from firefighters stopped a Birmingham school going up in flames after arsonists set fire to a decorator’s van parked in the yard.

Crews arrived at Small Heath Grant Maintained School in Waverley Road, Small Heath, at 10pm yesterday, to find cans of glue exploding in the van, which was also filled with paint and tools.

Crew commander Adam Joyce, from Highgate station, said: “When we got there the fire was impinging on the outside of the building.

“We had to break into the compound, force the lock open on the gate and smash through a window into the school to make sure the fire had not spread.”

“If we had arrived any later, the flames would have spread into the building.”

Police were today investigating the cause of the fire.