FAMILIES were told not to leave their homes after fire broke out in a school building containing asbestos.

More than 20 firefighters from all over Medway went to Walderslade Primary School after flames were spotted coming from the roof of a mobile classroom at around 3pm on Wednesday.

The school in Dargets Road was empty because pupils were rehearsing for a carol service at a local church.

Firefighters from Strood, Medway and Gillingham stations rushed to alert residents to keep their doors and windows shut. Police closed the road while firefighters spent an hour tackling the blaze in the single-storey building.

Two classrooms and a computer suite were badly damaged.

A spokesman from Medway Fire Station said: "We discovered the construction of the temporary classroom involved asbestos and knocked on the doors of nearby houses to warn people to stay indoors and keep their doors and windows shut.

"Fire had spread in the roof void between the two classrooms and a lot of smoke had spread to the local area."

A resident living nearby said: "I had begun to smell smoke when a fireman knocked on the door and asked me to close my living room window. He told me not to leave the house for the next hour or so."

The school is the only one in Medway to be made up entirely of mobile classrooms and parents and staff have campaigned tirelessly for new buildings.

The fire is a sad end to 21 years as head teacher for Laurie LeGouais, who celebrated his retirement from the school on Tuesday.

The school remained closed yesterday while the cause of the fire was investigated.