Former Student Charged After Allegedly Setting School on Fire, Posting Video Online

A former student of Cowra High School in New South Wales faces serious charges after allegedly breaking into the school and setting its administrative block on fire. The 17-year-old was arrested late Tuesday night and subsequently charged with multiple offenses, including damaging property by fire, breaking and entering, and posting the incident online.

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It was a substantial fire, the damage was extensive to that part of the building.

Fire and Rescue NSW reported receiving multiple emergency calls around 7 p.m. Tuesday, with three trucks responding to the scene. Acting superintendent Peter Murray described the fire as substantial, causing extensive damage to the administrative building. Crews worked diligently to contain the blaze, successfully preventing it from spreading to other structures, though smoke damage affected nearby areas. The fire was brought under control within approximately 30 minutes.

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Crews worked pretty hard and were able to fortunately contain it to that part of the building.

Police investigations led to the teenager's arrest. The charges against him include damaging property valued at over $15,000 by fire, uploading a video of the incident to social media, and breaking and entering with intent to destroy property valued at more than $60,000. He was refused bail and is scheduled to appear in children's court.

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To initially knock this down and get what we call fire control, to be fairly certain it hasn't expanded any further, within 30 minutes is quite good.

In the aftermath, Cowra High School Principal Anthony Hamer announced that students would be learning from home on Wednesday. The school is currently focused on ensuring the site is safe for the return of staff and students as soon as possible. The extent of the damage has led to the closure of the school grounds.

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This fire has caused damage to some areas of the school.