Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

In pictures: The night Braeview Academy went up in flames

The fire at Braeview Academy

The fire at Braeview Academy displaced pupils for 14 weeks and brought back memories of the devastating Morgan Academy blaze to the city.

These images of the fire show the full extent of the flames.

Braeview Academy was formed in 1996 after the closure of Linlathen High School.

Linlathen first opened in 1958 as a junior secondary school.

Its attendance rates soon skyrocketed and it was turned into a high school for its 1,200 pupils in 1973.

Linlathen High School when the building opened in 1958.

Discussions around its closure first began in 1992.

A major fire in October 1992 had destroyed the school’s science laboratories, and Tayside Regional Council began debating the best course of action.

The initial plans were to reduce the school’s capacity to 700 pupils, and refurbish the building.

However, the plans never went ahead.

The school continued in the years that followed before the new council drew up a report and Linlathen was earmarked for demolition.

The Braeview Academy fire received a major response from emergency services
The Braeview Academy fire received a major response from emergency services. September 11, 2018.

The Linlathen pupils were to be merged with those of the nearby Whitfield High School.

The two would be moved into Whitfield with a new name.

The newly-named Braeview Academy opened its doors in 1996 and the school went on to be the backdrop for many Dundonian’s childhoods.

September 11 2018.

Every fire and police crew in the north of the city helped tackle the blaze at the secondary school on the night of September 11.

The roof was consumed by flames which rose to about 30-40 feet in the air.

Onlookers said the fire had spread from one end of the building to the other in just 20 minutes.

Initially there were fears that the high winds that night would cause the fire to spread to nearby woodland.

Efforts to extinguish the blaze. September 11, 2018.
Efforts to extinguish the blaze. September 11, 2018.

Firefighters were called to the scene just after 9pm.

A total of nine fire and rescue appliances and four height vehicles arrived and attempted to flood the building.

All surroundings roads were closed.

Firefighters had the incident under control by about midnight, but was it too late to save the school?

The investigation begins

The question on everyone’s lips was, what had caused such a devastating blaze?

With the school now closed to pupils, kids and carers alike were determined to find the answer.

Fire crew remained at the scene all night. September 11, 2018.

An emergency staff meeting took place the following morning at 11am.

Teachers met at the nearby Ballumbie Primary School to discuss next steps.

Meanwhile, the pupils and their parents awaited news.

It was a tricky negotiation with several conflicts of interest.

The kids had to be kept safe, but they also had to be kept in school and not every carer was capable of driving them to yet another premises that was even further away.

Emergency services at the scene on September 11, 2018.
September 11, 2018.

At the time, the local council refused to make a final decision until a full assessment of the damage had been carried out.

Until they saw the extent of the wreckage, they couldn’t yet decide if it was possible for the building to be salvaged.

Elsewhere, Dundee City Council’s director of children and families services, Stewart Hunter, was attempting to lift people’s spirits.

He said: “We have been in this situation once before when Morgan Academy was badly damaged and we dealt with that.

“We will deal with this too.”

Morgan Academy

The fire brought back memories of the Morgan fire.

On March 21 2001 the school was gutted despite the best efforts of about 70 firefighters.

The refurbished secondary was closed for three years after the fire, but did eventually reopen at the start of the 2004-05 term.

Pupils from the school were housed at the former Rockwell High building while the academy was fully rebuilt.

Their stay at a new premises was a stop gap, a resting place rather than a final destination.

The hopes were that the pupils of Braeview would be just as lucky.

Braeview Academy. September 11 2018.
Braeview Academy. September 11 2018.

A couple of weeks after the Braeview blaze, a phased return was announced for the school’s pupils.

However, Braeview would remain closed, and they would start returning to their classes across two different city schools.

Craigie High and the new Baldragon Academy were to be their new stomping grounds until at least the October holidays, the council said.

With the school now empty, Dundee City Council were able to get inside and fully assess the extent of the damage.

The school's roof and top floor were badly damaged.
The school’s roof and top floor were badly damaged. September 12, 2018.

Shortly after, the Evening Telegraph spoke to investigators.

While the exact cause of the fire was still to be determined, investigators believed a small bonfire that went wrong may have started the blaze.

Although not thought to have been a deliberate attempt at fire-raising, strong winds could’ve fanned the flames towards the school and started the blaze.

Parts of the building had completely collapsed. September 12, 2018.

In November 2018, a full report on the fire was released.

A total of eight safety failures, which had all been highlighted months and years earlier, were still unresolved by the time the flames engulfed the school.

Required actions, including replacing the entire CCTV system and fitting locks to the cupboards of individual gas shut-off valves, were never completed.

The wreckage from above.
The wreckage from above. September 12, 2018.

A further three of the eight incomplete requirements had been repeatedly highlighted to education bosses over a five-year period.

These included the need to replace and upgrade the full fire alarm system, and the school’s “sub-standard” fire exits.

At the time, the council insisted that “all the urgent points” raised in the fire risk assessment had been implemented.

Parents and children, they said, had no reason to be concerned by the report.

Homecoming

Just over three months after the fire, Braeview Academy was opened once again.

Its pupils could now return “home”, the council said.

Parts of the old building had been repaired, and several temporary classrooms had been set up on the grounds while the final works were completed.

Final reflections

Fire chiefs investigating the blaze pointed to a “lack of training and guidance” given to the head teacher as part of her responsibility to keep the building safe – despite the blaze happening outwith school hours.

A fire safety audit raised further concerns over staff training, fire drills, and preventing further wilful fire-raising.

In the end, a 15-year-old boy was charged over the fire and referred to the Youth Justice Assessor.

New school

As for the future of Braeview Academy, it once again faces closure as the council plan to merge it with the nearby Craigie High School and move both sets of pupils into a new premises.

It will be replaced with a single new secondary school and community learning campus on Drumgeith Road.

Plans are to open the new school in August 2024.

The proposed new school premises.
The proposed new school premises. 2021.

Conversation