A 12-year-old boy has been charged in relation to a huge blaze at an Orange public school that closed the school and caused $3 million worth of damage.
Firefighters rushed to the scene at Glenroi Heights Public School about 10:30pm on December 5 to find a two-storey administration building ablaze.
Dramatic vision of flames leaping metres into the air and smoke billowing out of the building went viral after the incident.
The blaze took crews from Fire and Rescue NSW and the Rural Fire Service five hours to contain and the school has remained closed in the wake of the incident.
The library was also damaged however the classrooms weren’t impacted.
The boy was arrested on Tuesday and police are still searching for a possible co-offender according to Acting Superintendent Gerard Lawson.
“We are not aware he is a student at the school,” he said.
“CCTV has helped the investigation as we tried to get hold of the person we thought might be involved.”
The young boy has been charged with using fire to destroy property, breaking and entering and drug possession and will appear in front of a children’s court.
Students were forced to learn from home before the school holidays due to the blaze.
Shocked residents expressed their devastation at the loss of the library and other school buildings at the time of the incident.
“It is devastating for us because the kids all worked so hard this year on everything and coming close to end of school Year 6 graduating, their hard work all gone ... it’s just sad for all the kids,” one said on Facebook.
“I fail to understand why anyone would do this, as well as putting lives of the students and teachers at risk,” another wrote.
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