Call for school fire sprinklers

The fire at Tideway School in 2005 damaged 40 classrooms

Firefighters have called for sprinklers to be fitted in Sussex schools after a BBC investigation found more than 150 fires took place in the last 10 years.

Figures showed the fires caused damage estimated at more than £10m, but no state schools had sprinklers fitted.

"Putting sprinklers in would make a huge difference - it seems like a no brainer to us," said Fire Brigades' Union (FBU) spokesman Steve Huggins.

The government said its policy was for all new schools to have sprinklers.

Mr Huggins, FBU secretary for East Sussex, was at the scene of a fire which destroyed William Parker School in Hastings 15 years ago.

"I was here the next day and saw the devastation the fire caused," he said.

"But there is also the devastation you see in the teachers and the children with the destruction of their coursework and all their facilities."

The reality is that there is no government funding and in East Sussex we are a long way off having all our schools rebuilt Councillor Keith Glazier

John Court, head teacher of William Parker, now a sports college, said sprinklers were not fitted because of the cost.

"We would all favour sprinklers, but the budget we are given is very much for education."

The BBC Southern Counties Radio investigation found 73 school fires took place in East Sussex in the last 10 years, 60 in West Sussex and 21 in Brighton and Hove, causing more than £10m damage.

In one fire alone, at Tideway Community School in Newhaven in 2005, 40 classrooms were damaged.

The school is being rebuilt, at a cost of £10.8m, with the new buildings due to open later this year.

East Sussex County Councillor Keith Glazier said the new Tideway and a new high school to be built in Bexhill would have sprinklers.

"In an ideal world we would all want sprinkler systems in all schools," he said.

"But the reality is that there is no government funding and in East Sussex we are a long way off having all our schools rebuilt."

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said in a statement: "The policy now is that all new school designs will have to include sprinkler systems unless they demonstrate there is a very low risk."