PARENTS are being urged to keep their children away from a derelict fire trap.

The appeal is being made by Cleveland Fire Brigade after vandals broke into an empty school on Teesside, and started "numerous" fires, causing widespread damage and filling buildings with smoke.

Station Officer Ian Dunning, who led fire fighting operations at the former Dene School, in Baysdale Road, Thornaby, appealed: "I would say to parents in the area, please keep your children away from there and warn them of the dangers.

"We are worried about children coming into places like this, setting fires and finding themselves trapped.

"At the end of the day, we don't want to go in and find ourselves rescuing a child.

"We are trained to move around in conditions of zero visibility, but children are not trained,'' said SO Dunning.

Fire fighters who went to the deserted Dene School, on Wednesday, were almost injured themselves.

One crew was fighting a blaze in the old school hall, blinded by thick, acrid smoke.

It was only as the smoke began to clear that the firemen realised they were perched on a high stage, with a three feet drop to the floor.

The blaze destroyed 20 per cent of the school hall and there was 80 per cent smoke damage. Smoke from the blaze also damaged 15 classroom and ancillary rooms.

"There were numerous seats of fire in there," Mr Dunning said. Fire crews arrived at the scene to find 15 to 20 youths "hanging around". The crowd ranged from school age to people in their late teens.

Stockton Borough Council is also appealing to parents to know where there children are, particularly with the Easter school holidays imminent.

A council spokeswoman said: "Young people may find a boarded up building intriguing, to try and explore.

"However, the dangers of exposed electric cables, damaged internal structures and the possibility of becoming trapped, if there is a fire that goes out of hand, it poses a life threatening situation.

"We would plead with parents to be vigilant about where their children are, and to keep away from such places that could result in serious injury or worse."