ARSONISTS attacked a former Darwen high school over the weekend for the third time this month.

Six fire engines were forced to attend the old Darwen Moorland High School in Holden Fold on Saturday night to put out a blaze. It was also set on fire on Tuesday evening.

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Councillors have said they are outraged at the lack of security around the derelict building and are keen to see its demolition, which began on Thursday, completed as soon as possible.

Sudell ward councillor and former Moorland governor Paul Browne said: “I think that either measures need to be put in place so people cannot get into the school at all or we need to get it pulled down once and for all.

“The fire services are facing massive cuts as well as the police and it’s not helping them. I cannot see why people are doing this.

“The security is nowhere near as it should be, the building needs to be protected. It doesn’t take a clever person to see what needs to be done, it just needs to be secure.”

Previously this month, two fire crews put out a large quantity of chairs and tables that had been stacked up and set alight.

The building, which was constructed in the 1960s, housed Darwen Vale High School for a number of years while construction work was being carried out at its Blackburn Road site.

Questions were first raised about the future of the building when teaching at the site came to an end in 2012 with the departure of Darwen Vale.

Cllr Roy Davies said he wants the school to come down and insisted people needed to keep their eye out until then.

He said: “It’s like anything else, you can’t have a guard there 24/7. My feelings are that the sooner the school is gone the better.

“Arson in the area is getting frightening and it is a real hot spot for fire and police services. People in the area need to be vigilant and if they are in doubt they need to contact the police.”