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Newmarket Academy fire damages classes at school

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Fire at Newmarket AcademySuffolk Fire and Rescue
An investigation is under way after a blaze at the secondary school in Newmarket

About 30 firefighters tackled a blaze at a secondary school which may have been caused by a lightning strike, a fire service spokesman said.

Fire broke out at Newmarket Academy in the Suffolk town at about 22:30 BST on Monday, damaging some art classrooms.

Station Commander Henry Griffin said the fire was mainly "contained to the external part of the building".

He said an investigation was ongoing and both lightning and arson were "possible" causes.

"There was an electrical storm in the area," he said.

Suffolk Fire adn Rescue Firefighter at Newmarket AcademySuffolk Fire adn Rescue
About 30 firefighters from two counties tackled the blaze

Mr Griffin said a plastic playground cover and a large number of plastic picnic tables had been damaged at the school on Exning Road, as well as several classrooms which had damaged windows.

However he said "swift action" by the initial crews meant they did "a fantastic job of stopping the fire spreading into that building".

He said the school would be open after half-term and a number of pieces of artwork "had been salvaged".