By Taylor Kirkwood

On Tuesday night, 60 firefighters were sent to Dyce Academy in Aberdeen to tackle a blaze on the first floor of the school. Several of the rooms on the first floor were damaged as a result of the fire. There were no casualties, and an investigation is now underway.

Police Scotland are currently investigating the matter and are looking for enquiries from the public or any witnesses. The school will remain closed all week, staff and students will be updated on any further information. The school has uploaded online learning and given other opportunities to students to continue learning through this difficult period.

Figures released by Scottish Fire and Rescue Services in 2019 have shown that one in seven Scottish schools are at high risk of fire. These fires can start unintentionally from equipment in the school catching fire and catching onto flammable materials. In 2017 after the Grenfell Tower fire, they found many public buildings including schools that had the same cladding which caused the fire to spread rapidly in Grenfell. Fires may also be started by students or other young people, in attempts to ruin the facilities they have and not go to school.

Over the past ten years there has been many fires in Scottish schools, and these have all been caused by different things. However there remains to be one cause that continuously comes up: wilful fire raising, when someone deliberately sets fire to someone else's property to damage it or to injure people.

In August 2019, firefighters were called to a fire at Woodmill High School in Dunfermline. The fire which managed to spread through most of the school displaced over 1400 students.

The students continued to learn online and attend other schools until they could return. In January 2020, the students returned to the building. Temporary classrooms were made, and they used as much as the building they could. The school has since moved to a new campus in 2024.

A 14-year-old boy was arrested in connection to the fire. He had a private hearing at Dunfermline Sheriff court and was accused of wilful fire-raising to the danger of life. He made no plea and was further examined.

In November 2019, Peebles High School was also seriously damaged by a fire. S4-6 students from the high school were displaced to Galashiels and all younger students went to other sites in Peebles to continue learning. Wilful fire raising was the reported cause to the fire. Again, suggesting that people did this intentionally to the building.

In January 2022, there was a fire in Graeme High School in the toilet blocks. None of the school was seriously damaged, but pupils were evacuated. Yet again another young boy was charged in connection to the fire.

There is clearly a problem in Scotland with young people and being linked to fires in their place of education. There must be a solution to this to protect people and the schools. As well as raising the question why young people feel the need to intentionally damage facilities which should help benefit them in life. So far, most pupils have escaped these close calls with no injuries, but this could all change the next time a fire happens.

Scottish schools raging fire problems