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Fire crews tackle huge blaze at Jewish school

Almost 100 firefighters were called to the fire in Hackney on Tuesday night. It is now under control.

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Firefighters from across London hace tackled a huge fire at a strictly Orthodox Jewish primary school in Hackney.

The blaze began shortly before midnight last night at the Belz kindergarten in Craven Walk.

London Fire Brigade said half of the basement and ground floor of the school was alight, as well as other areas of the four-storey building.

There are no reported injuries. The school remains shut this morning, with pupils moving to a different nearby school.

The property had been refurbished within the past year.

 

@999London

Nicola Lown of London Fire Brigade was at the scene. She said: "The ground floor partially collapsed into the basement leading to hazardous conditions. 

"Two fire rescue units were also on the scene and their equipment was used to shore up the ground floor. 

"This enabled crews to wear breathing apparatus to gain better access to the fire in the basement."

At least 15 fire engines attended the scene after the brigade was called minutes before midnight. The fire was brought under control shortly before 7am today.

Fire crews from Stoke Newington, Tottenham, Homerton, Hornsey, Holloway fire stations and other surrounding fire stations were at the scene.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but a Metropolitan Police source said it was believed to have been started by an electrical fault. Another source said the fire started in the boiler room.

A police spokesman said: "The school was empty at the time and evacuation was not required.

"At this stage it is believed to have started from an electrical fault.

"Cordons remain in place although they are likely to reduce over the day. Several residential houses have been effected by electrical failure however the engineers are working on restoring power."

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