FIREFIGHTERS rushed to a blaze at an Irvine school this week after the solar panels on the roof caught fire.

Three crews from Kilmarnock, Kilwinning and Dreghorn raced to the blaze on the roof of Irvine Royal Academy after an electrical fault within the solar panels cause a fire to break out on Thursday, July 16 just after 8.30am.

Luckily, no one was in the building at the time of the incident.

Firefighters managed to put out the flames before any serious damage was done.

Station manager Derek Davidson told the Times: “On arrival the crews found a fire on the roof of an annexe building attached to the school.

“They accessed the affected area using a 10.5metre ladder and had the fire extinguished within four minutes of their initial attack.

“On extinguishing the fire the crews then gained entry to the building to check for any signs of internal fire spread.

“The fire had originated from solar panels on the roof and as such, Scottish Power, solar panel engineers and local authority representatives were required to attend the building to ensure power was isolated and appropriate repairs were undertaken.” Crews tackled the blaze for almost two hours before leaving the scene.

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “We can confirm that the Fire Service extinguished a small fire from the roof of Irvine Royal Academy on Thursday, July 16.

“This was caused by a fault in the generation cables linked to the solar panels.

“The fire was quickly extinguished and did not damage the inside of the school building.” They added: “Arrangements will now be made to undertake the necessary repairs.”