A PRIMARY school was evacuated after a cooker hob fire in a classroom.

Four fire crews were called to St Oswald's RC Primary School and Nursery in Hartley Avenue, Accrington, at around 3.23pm.

Watch manager Gary Drinkwater said the fire was caused by a cooker hob being turned on in an economics classroom, causing plastic utensils on top of the hob to melt.

He said: "We initially went out because of the automatic fire alarm, but we were told by the school there was smoke coming from a classroom, so we upgraded our response.

"We were told one of the teachers tried to tackle the fire with a fire extinguisher, but they left when the school was evacuated.

"No one was injured, however the cooker hob was damaged, the plastic utensils were destroyed and the classroom was smoke damaged.

"We were there for around an hour and 50 minutes."

The school announced on its website its nursery would be closed tomorrow due to the fire damage.

All other aspects of the school would remain open as normal.