THE man in charge of fighting the blaze at Lytchett Minster School has spoken of his pride at the way Dorset Fire and Rescue Service met the challenge of dealing with three major fires in the same morning.

Tim Spring, deputy area commander for Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, led a team of 90 firefighters at the school – including some from Hampshire, Wiltshire, Devon and Somerset.

The alarm was raised just after 7am after lightning struck the roof of the school’s arts block, one of the replacement buildings that opened after a devastating arson attack 12 years ago.

Earlier in the morning around 45 firefighters had been called to a big barn fire at Stalbridge, north Dorset, and 30 to a blaze at the derelict Cliff End Hotel on Bournemouth’s East Cliff.

“Luckily, in terms of stretching the brigade’s resources, there was some time between incidents. They didn’t come in simultaneously,” said Mr Spring.

“The barn fire was some time before. We were scaling down when we had the hotel fire come in. We were able to resource that.

“We’re always looking to bring in and replenish fire cover and having done that, we had the third incident come in, which was the largest of the three.

“I’m incredibly proud of the way everyone worked. Our staff will always go the extra mile. Some of them had been working at incidents from 2am onwards.

“It’s what you train to do. Fulfilment comes from walking away knowing you’ve done a very good job, your procedures have worked efficiently and people have given it their best.”

Firefighters managed to salvage some electrical equipment from the ground floor during the early stages of the fire.

They were initially hampered by low water pressure at the hydrant on the site, but Wessex Water was able to increase the pressure. The firefighters also used water carriers, replenishing them from a source at Upton.

They remained on site overnight and yesterday morning to damp down.

Mr Spring said the building was fitted with two lightning conductors and that the fire appeared to have spread through the roof. “We don’t get many lightning strikes on buildings, but they do happen, the amount of energy from lightning starts quite a substantial fire.”