A member of the public raised the alarm on Sunday morning

Emergency crews were called to Cotham School in Bristol on Sunday morning (March 6) after smoke was seen above the building.

A member of the public raised the alarm to the fire service at approximately 9.30am after concerns for plumes of smoke seen billowing from the top of the school in the Bristol suburb. Three fire engines were in attendance along with a turntable ladder to assist crews with access to the top of the building to safely identify the cause of the smoke.

A spokesperson for Avon Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the cause of the smoke as accidental, specifically from "biomass fuel" left on one of the boilers in the school creating a lot of smoke. In a statement, the spokesperson said: "It's all safe. There was some wet fuel that was put on one of the boilers, some bio mass fuel which created a lot of smoke. "

Read more: Emergency crews descend on school as smoke billows from building - updates

The overactive biomass heater created excess white smoke due to it being damp, according to fire crews. They added the situation is all under control at the secondary school with no internal damage caused.

Shortly before 10.30am fire crews finished attending the scene and started to pack away, the spokesperson explained.

A spokesperson for Cotham School thanked their neighbours for spotting the smoke and the fire service for attending so promptly. In a statement, they said: "Thank you to the concerned and vigilant Cotham residents who responded to the sight of smoke coming from the school roof this morning.

"Many thanks to the fire service who responded quickly to the reported cause for concern and discovered almost immediately upon attending the site that there was no fire at the school. The cause of the smoke was from the biomass boiler using wood pellets which had taken on moisture during storage and therefore the boiler produced more smoke than it usually does.

"The school has an advanced fire detection system which is monitored 24 hours a day and in the event of a fire being detected would notify that service and the alarm would sound."

Cotham Road was closed by emergency crews to allow them to attend to the incident safely causing a small amount of disruption to the number 72 bus service that passes through the area.

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Crews were called to the scene after smoke was spotted at Cotham School at 9.30am on Sunday morning (March 6)

Three fire engines attended the scene to identify the cause of the smoke

A turntable ladder was used to reach the top of the building

Cotham Road was closed causing minor disruption to the 72 bus service and drivers in the area

The reason for the smoke is believed to be accidental, caused by wet fuel being left on a boiler in the school building

Fire crews began to pack up around 10.30am when they deemed the building to be safe