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Major blaze at Malvern College - VIDEO


Firefighters have been tackling a major blaze at a public school in Malvern.

A girls boarding school building where the house mistress and her family lived at Malvern College on The Lees Road, has been almost completely destroyed by the fire which broke out at around 4am today.

Thirteen engines were at the scene although students are on their Easter break. At the height of the incident more than 70 firefighters were dealing with the fire.

Although the fire took hold of one of the accommodation blocks, fortunately firefighters were able to save around half of the building.

Group Manager Mark Preece said: "On arrival at the scene our firefighters were faced with a very severe fire which had taken hold in one of the accommodation blocks. Thankfully as it is the Easter holidays the block was empty.

"Firefighters worked extremely hard to deal with the fire and thanks to their efforts they managed to create a break in the fire to stop it spreading further." Engines that attended the incident included the Aerial Ladder Platform from Worcester Fire Station and the Environmental Protection Unit from Stourport Fire Station.

Eight firefighters wearing Breathing Apparatus sets tackled the fire from inside the building and crews were also dealing with the fire externally.

The stop message was given at just before 9.30am this morning although firefighters are expected to remain on scene for the rest of the day. A fire investigation into the cause of the fire is now underway.

Comments(3)

Elston says...
1:17am Sun 11 Apr 10

I’m pretty sure the picture on the right was one of the few I took using my mobile phone when I was walking home after a night out and spotted the blaze in the early stages of yesterday morning. As I got closer I soon realised I was the first at the scene so immediately rang the emergency services. Unfortunately I do not have the photographs of the blaze as my mobile phone was confiscated by the police to help in the investigation. The fire was incredibly traumatic and I have never seen anything like it. The fire fighters worked extremely well as a team to take control of the fire as soon as they arrived only minutes after my call. I was glad to hear no one was in the building during the fire and thank goodness the students were all away on their Easter break.

Malvern says...
9:18am Mon 12 Apr 10

There seems to be a lot of fires around here for a small place.

evendine1 says...
6:30pm Mon 12 Apr 10

Very true Malvern - it's not so long since the Tudor went up...
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It always seems to be be listed (expensive to maintain) buildings which get it - which one would expect would have major fire-alarm systems.
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Why was it that Elston had to ring the fire brigade - why weren't they alerted by the fire alarm system? Where was the college caretaker?
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It seems to have gone very quiet on the cause of the Tudor fire front - nothing from the fire-services or police...?
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How extensive was the fire when you spotted it Elston?


The fire at 5:30 this morning. Picture by Andy Rhymer Picturfed is House 6 at Malvern College which was on fire this morning. Picture by reader Ross Smith

The fire at 5:30 this morning. Picture by Andy Rhymer

Pictured is House 6 at Malvern College which was on fire this morning. Picture by reader Ross Smith



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