Video: Leeds pupils' Great Fire of London project is a lesson in safety

DEMONSTRATION: Pupils at Carr Manor Primary School watch the fire. PIC: Gary Longbottom

Year Two youngsters at Carr Manor Primary watched as a 1666-era replica of the capital’s Pudding Lane was set alight next to a model of homes like those on the school’s street.

Key Stage One leader Katie Lamb arranged for Killingbeck firefighter Earl Bussue – who had just finished a night shift – and Moortown station staff to help with last Thursday’s event.

Miss Lamb said: “We try and do everything in first hand experiences for the kids but taking them to London isn’t possible. I was racking my brains about how we could make it come to life.”

Ninety kids used straw and wood to create the ancient London scene and also created the Carr Manor Road counterpart.

The Pudding Lane construction burned more fiercely than the modern house models, teaching the six- and seven-year-olds how fire safety has improved over the centuries.

Miss Lamb said: “There was a mixture of fear and shock and complete excitement.”

The Moortown crew were late to the school because they were tackling a real incident in Chapel Allerton but arrived in the “nick of time” to join them.

Leather water buckets, like those used in the 1600s, were used to extinguish the fire.