THREE people have been arrested on suspicion of arson after a school fire in Blyth – the second such incident in three days.
Two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old were arrested in connection with a fire at the former Wensleydale Middle School in Dent Street on Tuesday night.
The blaze continued into yesterday as due to the dangerous structure of the derelict building firefighters who fought it through the night largely had to let the fire burn itself out.
Fire crews from West Hartford fire station were called at 10.30pm on Tuesday, and when they saw the scale of the fire, with huge flames engulfing large parts of the building, they upscaled their response.
They also called Northumbria Police, who made the arrests.
Yesterday afternoon the arrested trio remained in custody.
Police have not ruled out a link to a fire on Sunday, also in a derelict Blyth school.
Crews from the same station were called to Newsham First School, responding to several 999 calls at 8.40pm on Sunday. It took crews more than three hours to bring the blaze under control as flames swept through the main hall and nursery building.
Fire investigators and police then looked at the site, trying to establish whether the school was targeted deliberately.
In August, two teenagers were arrested following a similar fire at Wensleydale Middle School.
The site, which was closed down under the county’s education reforms, was severely damaged.
