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County Times: Wednesday, 25 February 1970

EIGHTY FIREMEN FOUGHT BLAZE THAT SWEPT GRAMMAR SCHOOL

ARSON is suspected as the cause of the fire which did thousands of pounds worth of damage to Eliots Green Grammar School, Northolt on Thursday night.

A C.I.D. spokesman said: "We are treating this as a case of arson because of the seat of the fire and several outside pieces of evidence which indicate there were intruders.

The fire, which gutted an assembly and dining hall and administrative offices, was the second blaze in the last few months. But police can find no direct connection.  "It is something we have to consider, of course," said the spokesman.

Pupils sent home

On Friday morning, when the 640 pupils arrived at the school in Eastcote Lane, Northolt, they were told to return home. A spokesman for Ealing Council said: "The pupils were sent home primarily because there was no water.  We are working to restore the services and if we can get the water back we hope we can start again next week."

During the fire, which was fanned by high winds, about 80 firemen were called from the surrounding area to prevent the blaze spreading to the classrooms.

Three firemen were injured, none of them seriously, in the operation, which took more than 11 hours to control and involved about 12 appliances, several ambulances and police and salvage experts.  At one time during the fire, an unconscious fireman was dragged clear of the building seconds before a lead lined roof caved in.

The fire started in the secretary's room in the administrative area of the school and soon after the alert at 11 p.m. police sealed off roads leading to the Northolt Park Racecourse estate.

A crowd of about 100 people watched the struggle to control the fire and a special operations caravan was set up to control the firemen from Ealing, Harrow, Wembley and other districts.

Staff room

Arc lights were used as firemen with breathing apparatus broke into the building, but shortly after midnight the fire was under control. Pockets of flame continued to flare up, and the last of the fire tenders did not leave until 10 a.m. on Friday.

One of the areas affected was the staff room where, next morning, teachers were busy trying to salvage personal items.

On Monday all boys were back at school except first form pupils. The headmaster, Mr. A. West, said this week: "The problems are tremendous, but I think as far as the pupils are concerned we will be running normally on Thursday." A notice board informing parents of this situation was left at the school entrance.

Footnote: it later transpired that the arsonists were disenchanted pupils from the school. We shall therefore draw a veil over this particular part of EGGS’s chequered history.