Panic as fire breaks out close to school campus

COIMBATORE: Panicked parents rushed to a private school in the city to pick up their children on Monday after a fire broke out at a plot adjacent to the school campus.
The incident happened at Adwaith GNS Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Sowripalayam. “A 40-acre plot behind the school was overgrown with thorny bushes and had become shelter for anti-social elements. The landowners cleared the plot a week ago, but left the uprooted bushes and dry garbage in a heap. A minor fire reported in the place three days ago was put out by the local residents. However, miscreants again set fire to the dry heap on Monday. The fire spread to thorny bushes on the nearby plots,” a parent told TOI.

As parents, who heard about the incident, rushed to the school and requested the school management to declare a holiday to save their children from suffocation, water tenders from Peelamedu and Coimbatore south fire station reached the spot. By that time, fire had spread to a coconut garden, destroying some trees. Soon, Peelamedu police personnel also rushed to the spot and assisted the fire fighters. They managed to douse the fire after three hours of struggle.

Meanwhile, angry parents approached the police personnel, raising complaints against the school management. “If the school management refuses to clear the thorny bushes immediately from the surroundings, we will stage a protest,” a parent said.

Peelamedu inspector V Selvaraj pacified the parents. “More than 40 acres of the adjacent plot belongs to the school management. We have instructed them to clear the bushes for the safety of the students and the general public,” he said.

The school declared a holiday following the incident.