GCSE coursework and many thousands of pounds worth of teaching resources have been destroyed in a classroom fire. More than 1,000 pupils and teachers at Knowles Hill school, Newton Abbot, fear the loss of educational material will have serious long-term effects on their work. Two classrooms were gutted in the fire on Sunday, which has obliterated the school's modern language department. Headteacher Dr Colin Pope said that the fire would cause a 'major disruption' to life at the school. It is believed the fire was caused by an electrical fault in a dehumidifier in a first floor classroom of a two storey block. Flames burned through the floor, leaving a gaping hole through which it spread to the room below. Dr Pope said it was the items inside the building that will cause the greatest loss. 'Much of student's written work and work stored on computers may have been lost that cannot be replaced or will take a long time to replace,' he said. Around 40 per cent of the department's teaching resources were damaged in the blaze, including hundreds of exercise books and coursework folders, many of which cannot be recovered. Teaching materials such as textbooks and banks of sheet material were burned, and a large cabinet containing 20 laptops was damaged. Dr Pope said he feared it would cost tens of thousands of pounds to replace them. Audio equipment, overhead projectors, TVs and video were also lost. Firefighters were alerted around 10.30am by the school's alarm system and passers-by who spotted smoke billowing from the classroom. Three firecrews form Newton Abbot and Torquay worked quickly to put out the fire, using a ladder, small tools and breathing apparatus to get into the building. They extinguishing the flames with two hose reel jets and removed and damped down the classroom wall linings and ceilings. 'The whole department, used by most of our students, is now out of action. We are having to relocate classes by shuffling students around to other rooms. It will have a big impact on the day to day running of the school and it could take up to three months before the department can get back to normal,' said Dr Pope. The adjoining corridor has also badly damaged by smoke and the entire block cordoned off. The building, built in the 1970s, was of poor quality and it is hoped that the two classrooms will be replaced and the whole block can be revamped. 'Luckily the fire was quite localised and didn't spread to the rest of the building,' said Dr Pope. The full cost of the damage will be known once teachers complete their inventory reports and the building is assessed by the school's surveyors and Devon County Council.
