Firefighters have finally left the scene of a huge blaze which ripped through a Fife high school at the weekend.
Crews spent 48 hours battling the fire at Woodmill High School in Dunfermline, then making the area safe and eliminating hotspots within the devastated building.
They handed full control of the school back to Fife Council on Tuesday evening.
At its height, more than 15 fire appliances and 80 firefighters from across Scotland were involved in the emergency after the alarm was raised shortly after 5pm on Sunday.
A 14-year-old boy has since appeared in court charged with wilful fireraising to danger of life.
He did not enter a plea, as is standard procedure in the early stages of a legal case.
The education service said no part of the school had been untouched by the inferno, with the department of additional support (DAS) – attended by some particularly vulnerable children – worst hit.
Officers are working “flat out” to come up with a short to medium-term solution to get children back to school as quickly as possible and are looking at a number of possible options.
Fire service area manager Roddie Keith, senior officer for Fife, Stirling and Clackmannanshire, said: “Our crews remained on scene to absolutely ensure that this building was as safe as possible before we handed it back into the hands of our partners in Fife Council.
We have now left the scene of the large fire at #Woodmill High School in #Dunfermline
Read more as Local Senior Officer Roddie Keith thanks the community, our partners and crews for their actions in helping to bring this incident to a conclusion.
➡️ https://t.co/0FEnnCI2Yp pic.twitter.com/NKdSz2kmlu
— Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (@fire_scot) August 27, 2019
“This has been a challenging and protracted incident that required considerable resources to meet.
“However, as a national service we could draw upon resources from across the country , with equipment and staff coming from across Scotland to ensure we contained this large fire and brought the incident to a safe conclusion.”
Mr Keith added: “I would like to thank the community for their outstanding support throughout the incident and recognise the hard work put in by our partners, other emergency services and the local authority.
“Additionally, I must also thank our dedicated firefighters who remained professional and effective in challenging conditions throughout.”
Mr Keith said the fire service would continue to work with the police to establish the full facts and circumstances of the fire.
