A great number of teams were deployed to the area as a consequence: 20 firefighters, one large and two small fire trucks, a police vehicle, as well as a mobile water tank. The service members got the flames under control by 4.00 p.m. on Sunday, but were forced to break in some walls to access the affected areas.
Mayor Serge Fillot explained that nobody was injured during the fire, but that damages to the new school building were significant. Thanks to the efforts from the fire brigades, a definitive closure of the school could be avoided, he further conveyed.
The heating in the building is no longer working and electricity is also out in some places. Toxic fumes have further caused damages in every single class room. As a result, 170 pupils and their ten teachers are forced to find a new home. A sports building has already been chosen as a temporary solution.
Criminal proceedings are expected to go ahead and two minors are currently under suspicion of being responsible for the fire, the Liège prosecutor’s office announced in a statement on Sunday evening. According to Mayor Fillot, both suspects are only eleven years old and former pupils of the school in question. One of them was expelled for violently assaulting a staff member.
It is reported that both suspects used bombs built out of deodorant to create the fire. Authorities further discovered the spot where they entered the gym.
This is the third time in ten years that a Liège school falls victim to arson.
