A PRIMARY school head today hit out at the "pointless" vandalism of arsonists who set fire to a portable storage cabin.

The blaze, started deliberately at Horwich CE Primary School last night, destroyed the storeroom and the surplus furniture stored inside.

Fortunately, the blaze was spotted by people living nearby and firefighters managed to prevent damage spreading to classrooms.

Two fire crews attended at 9.38pm. The storeroom, situated underneath a classroom in the playground, had been broken into before being set alight. It contained wooden tables and plastic chairs.

Today headteacher Richard Fairclough said the the fire attack was "hard to understand".

He said: "Basically, you just wonder what satisfaction the people responsible get. It is a pointless thing to have done." He said the value of the damage caused had yet to be fully assessed, and added: "Fortunately the fire did not affect the teaching areas in the school. It will not cause any disruption to the life of the school."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.