Firefighters buy new bags for children

25 school bags were destroyed in a fire at the Corproation school in Arumbakkam

Personnel of the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) went beyond the call of their duty by reaching out to schoolchildren who lost their bags and books in a fire on the school premises in Arumbakkam on Thursday.

Around 9.20 a.m. on Thursday, the children and teachers assembled for morning prayers on the ground floor of the Chennai Middle School run by the Greater Chennai Corporation. Earlier, 25 children had kept their bags containing textbook and notebooks at the entrance on second floor of the school. Even while the prayer was on, thick smoke emanated from the second floor. Teachers who noticed it, sent the children to safety. They attempted to extinguish the fire with water and fire extinguishers. Personnel from the Fire Station, Koyambedu, reached the spot and put out the blaze.

Preliminary investigation revealed that a spark from tube light sockets triggered the fire and the school bags kept on the floor caught fire.

TNFRS Joint Director Priya Ravichandran, who visited the spot, asked her colleagues to buy new bags. The bags were handed over to the affected children. The officials of School Education Department have promised to supply new sets of books to the children.

Later, the TNFRS personnel conducted an awareness programme for the children on the spot.