A fire razed a classroom building for Forms 1-3 at Niuafo’ou High School on Wednesday 21 September, while the students were away on a school break.

Principal of the Government secondary school on the small remote island, Losaline Taufalele said today that no students were in the building block (which has three classrooms) when the fire occurred, at around 3:00pm.

Also gutted was an adjoining room they used as a school hall.

The classroom block was situated on the junior block for Forms 1-3. These students are currently on break to return to school next week.

“We didn't know when the fire occurred because we were at the senior block side, with the senior students who started back this week to work on their internal assessments. When we saw smoke we ran down and the fire had already engulfed the classrooms,” she said.

At the same time, the school's office was situated close to the burning classroom block.

“Teachers and students managed to stop the fire from spreading to the nearby office with water, hence saving our computers and other school supplies. We are just thankful no one was injured,” said the principal.

The school is now planning where to house the displaced junior students, when they return to school next week.

Meanwhile, Police on the island are investigating the cause of the fire, since Tonga Fire and Emergency Services has no station there.