School damaged by blaze

Balla Secondary School damaged by blaze

Neill O’Neill

It took five units of the Mayo Fire Brigade almost three hours to bring a fire in Balla Secondary School under control in the early hours of Sunday morning last.
The fire alarm was triggered around 5.15am and units of the fire brigade from Castlebar, Claremorris, Kiltimagh and Westport rushed to the scene. Chief Fire Officer for Mayo, Seamus Murphy, described it as ‘a very serious fire in a big building’, which required five appliances, including an elevated ladder unit, to bring it under control.
The school suffered mostly extensive smoke damage, though one ground floor classroom and another directly above it were completely gutted by the fire.
There were no students at the school on Monday or Tuesday, however Junior and Leaving Certificate classes are due to resume there later in the week. The Irish oral exams, which were due to take place this week, are going ahead as scheduled.
Resumption of normal service at the school will be dependent on the results of a health and safety review of the entire building, which is due to be carried out later in the week.
A Garda spokesperson told The Mayo News that no foul play was suspected in the blaze and that the cause was most likely an electrical fault.