MOUNT Gambier North Primary School principal Paul Harmer has vowed the school will “bounce back” after a suspicious fire completely destroyed a storage shed.
Mount Gambier Metropolitan Fire Service and Country Fire Service firefighters were alerted to the blaze at around 6pm on Friday and quickly attended to find the shed engulfed in flames.
Mr Harmer received a phone call at around the same time, which was just 10 minutes after he departed the school grounds.
“I was on my way home and got a call saying the school was on fire, so I turned around and got back here just as the firefighters arrived,” he said.
“There was not much I could do except watch.”
Firefighters worked tirelessly to stop the fire from spreading to nearby bushes and neighbouring homes.
Causing more than $100,000 in damage, it took firefighters around 30 minutes to bring the blaze under control and 90 minutes to fully extinguish.
“It was well and truly alight by the time I got there and they did what they could,” Mr Harmer said.
“The neighbours’ houses are only a few metres away and they did an amazing job to stop it spreading, the systems they have are great, they are well-drilled.”
The fire was not expected to impact the school’s operation with Mr Harmer expressing relief that no other buildings were damaged.
“Being that it’s in an area of the grounds that’s out of bounds, it will not affect the running of the school in any way, it just impacts what the groundsman needs to do his job,” he said.
“Fortunately it’s only assets and everybody is okay, which is the main thing and the school will bounce back bigger than ever.”
However he admitted it was still disheartening to see a school building go up in flames.
“You do not want to see any damage done to your school, so to see it all up alight and knowing what was in there, it’s just disappointing for the whole school community,” he said.
“It’s one of those things, while it was not a learning space, it was still a school building and any damage done to a school building can hit the community at the core.”
The circumstances of the fire have been deemed suspicious and Mount Gambier Police are investigating the incident.
“I do not think anyone sets out to deliberately damage a school building, I think some people have made some poor choices and this is what happens,” Mr Harmer said.
While everything destroyed in the blaze will be covered by insurance, he said one pedal prix vehicle received extensive damage as a result of the fire.
“That is a school program the children are very passionate about and want to be involved in,” he said.
“We did have another pedal prix car in there, which came through essentially unscathed.”
Highlighting the curiosity of young children, Mr Harmer said they will not try to hide what happened at the school on Friday night from the students.
“They will ask how and why and we will be pretty straight down the line with them by stating that ‘yes there was a fire and yes there was damage done’,” he said.
As the investigation continues, he called on the community to remain vigilant.
“It’s also a message to the community to be vigilant around the site and let the police know if they saw anything or anyone,” he said.
