Clere school in Burghclere evacuated due to fire

According to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, firefighters were called at 1.52pm to a fire in a storage room, next to the sports hall at the Adbury Road, Earlstone Common school.
Water tenders from Overton, Basingstoke and Eastleigh, a water tender ladder from Tadley and the Basingstoke Special Equipment Unit - a total 30 firefighters - tackled the blaze, which was ongoing at 4.15pm today (Wednesday November 7).
The fire started in a storage building, situated next to the 38m by 38m school sports hall.
Speaking to the NWN at the school, incident commander, Dave Graham, said the cause was under investigation, with a suspicious cause not ruled out, adding the police had been informed of the incident.
“There is some damage to the store room and to the roof of the sports hall, including solar panels,” said Mr Graham.
“About a quarter of the roof is damaged by fire and the whole building is damaged by smoke,” he continued, adding the building would need to be cleaned up and deoderised before it could be used.
“The roof will need some work done on it,” he said adding:
“We can’t say how it started at this stage - we are keeping an open mind.”
Command support officer, Howard Watts, who was also at the scene, said the whole school had been evacuated, with pupils assembled on the school playing fields near the tennis courts for an hour, before being picked up by coaches and parents.
A spokeswoman for the school, Jenny Piper, said the school’s senior management team, including the headteacher, were in a meeting to discuss the way forward following the fire, and in view of examinations scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday).
It was still to be established, she continued, if the school’s boiler house had been affected by the fire, but the school would remain open tomorrow (Thursday):
“It‘s business as usual,” she said.
Assistant headteacher, Zayne Essop, said headteacher, Felicity Martin, was due to issue a statement on the situation tomorrow (Thursday).