A SCHOOL was evacuated today following a fire in a classroom — and will be closed tomorrow.

A member of staff at Benjamin Hargreaves Primary School, Barnfield Street, Accrington, saw smoke coming from a fuse box during the lunch break at 12.30pm on Tuesday.

Many of the 165 pupils were eating or playing outside when the alarm was raised.

The classroom which was affected belonged to the year three and four classes with children aged between seven and nine.

The school’s entire electrics were blown and the children were led across Barnfield Street to the playing field next to the church hall.

Parents were called to pick up their youngsters and were advised not to bring them back the next day.

Headteacher Julie Nicol said an assessment would now be made of the extent of the damage and how long the building would be closed.

She said: “Our primary concern was for the safety of the children.

“We practice fire evacuations at lunchtime all the time, so some of the children may just have thought it was a drill.”

Fire crews spent two hours at the scene, using breathing apparatus, a thermal imaging camera and dry powder to dampen down.

They have put the cause down to a probable electrical fault.