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Crews tackle arson at former private school

Steve Huntley/BBC A burnt out sofa frame in front of Moreton Hall School. The blackened frame is resting on a piled up brown possible rug and there is other burnt debris resting on the rug. Behind the debris is the portico-style front door of the Georgian-style manor house. There are a lot of weeds and overgrown plants on either side of the front door. Steve Huntley/BBC
Crews from seven stations were called to the fire, alongside an aerial ladder platform

Firefighters from two counties have been tackling a suspected arson at a three-storey former preparatory school.

The emergency services were called to the Moreton Hall site in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, at about 10:50 BST, after smoke was seen coming from a second-floor window.

The nearby Moreton Hall Health Club was evacuated as part of the operation, a Suffolk Fire Service spokesperson said.

No-one was injured in the fire at the former school on Mount Road, which closed in summer 2020.

Steve Huntley/BBC The former Moreton Hall School a Georgian-style manor house. On the right is a three storey building and extending on the left is a two storey wing. It has smashed windows and appears derelict. Trees and shrubs have grown up on either side of the portico style front door, which is on the right. In front of that is gravel and resting on the gravel, on the right is a pile of burnt out debris, including a blackened sofa frame. Steve Huntley/BBC
Smoke was seen coming out of a second floor window at the building, said a fire service spokesperson

The fire has been extinguished, but firefighters, including crews from Norfolk, remained at the scene on Saturday afternoon.

Suffolk Police said it was treating the fire as a suspected arson and said Mount Road was closed at 11:20 and reopened at 12:45.

The force said the building was an abandoned one and it appealed for witnesses or anyone with dashcam or doorbell footage.

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