A second teenager has been charged following a fire that caused extensive damage to Cowra High School’s administration building on Monday night, with police continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the blaze.

Emergency services were called to the Dowell Street school at approximately 7.10pm on Monday, 20 July, after multiple Triple Zero calls were received reporting a structure fire.

Fire and Rescue NSW crews attended the scene with support from the NSW Rural Fire Service, with firefighters arriving within minutes and locating the fire inside an office within the school’s administration building.

Acting Inspector Adam Tonkin from Chifley Police District said officers established a crime scene and began making inquiries into the cause of the fire.

“Shortly after Fire and Rescue extinguished the blaze, which caused extensive damage to an admin office within Cowra High School, police commenced an investigation,” Acting Inspector Tonkin said.

Following further inquiries, police arrested a second teenager outside Cowra High School at approximately 4pm on Tuesday, 21 July.

The 14 year old boy was taken to Cowra Police Station and charged with damage property by fire/explosion more than $15,000 and aggravated break and enter serious indictable offence in company – not steal etc.

He was refused bail and is due to appear before the Children’s Bail Division Court on Wednesday, 22 July.

Following original inquiries, police attended a Cowra address at around 10pm on 20 July and arrested a 17 year old boy.

The teenager was taken to Cowra Police Station and charged, with police alleging he was a former student of the school who broke into the premises before deliberately starting the fire.

Police further allege the teenager filmed the incident and uploaded footage of the fire to a social media platform.

The 17 year old was charged with damage property by fire or explosion exceeding $15,000, committing an offence under Section 112(1) and disseminate, and break and enter with intent to destroy property valued at more than $60,000.

He was refused bail and appeared before the Children’s Court on Tuesday, 21 July.

Acting Inspector Tonkin said police considered the alleged behaviour extremely serious, particularly due to the dangers associated with deliberately lighting fires and sharing footage online.

“It’s a wholly dangerous act,” he said.

“Doing anything with fire, and especially posting it, we consider a fairly serious, flagrant disregard of the law.”

He said police were increasingly focused on preventing young people from recording and sharing dangerous behaviour online.

“We’re moving down the pathway of a lot of prevention and education around that,” Acting Inspector Tonkin said.

The fire caused extensive damage to the school’s administration building, with smoke also affecting adjoining classrooms and other areas within the school grounds.

A full assessment of the damage is continuing, with the Department of Education working with Cowra High School to determine when staff and students can safely return.

Acting Inspector Tonkin said the school remained an active crime scene while police processed evidence before the site was handed back.

“It was an active crime scene as of 10am this morning,” he said.

“Once a crime scene has been processed, we’ve handed back to the school and the Department of Education to make a decision.”

Police have appealed for anyone with additional information, CCTV footage or dashcam footage relating to the incident to contact Cowra Police.

“If anyone does have any other CCTV footage or dashcam footage, by all means contact us here at Cowra Police,” Acting Inspector Tonkin said.

There were no reports of injuries following the fire.

Investigations into the incident remain ongoing.