Fire destroys PR Daycare A sudden, violent fire ripped through Sugar Plum Day Care late Friday night and into Saturday morning. The cause and origin of the fire are unknown right now. Lance Bushie, fire chief for the town of Peace River said the department was paged at 11 p.m. on Friday egarding the fire. When we arrived on the scene we started with interior attacks on the fire,” said Bushie. “However the fire got into the attic area. Once the fire gets into an enclosed space like that we can’t get to it and it becomes dangerous.” So firefighters had to keep the blaze under control until it burnt through the roof and they could attack it once again. After 12 hours of battling the blaze the four walls of Sugar Plum were left standing but the interior was completely gutted. Small puffs of smoke continued to rise from the odd hot spot two hours after the blaze was extinguished. “The scene is secure now and we’re waiting for provincial investigators to arrive,” said Bushie. “They’ll be here first thing Monday morning, in the meantime, my crew can get some rest. The daycare has been closed for the last month after severe rain caused damage to the roof. Contractors had been at the site working on the roof for the last few weeks. Jenn Daley, who has been working at the daycare for just over a month said that they were hoping to reopen their doors in a few weeks. Senior daycare workers who have been out of work for the last month have been covered by insurance. However, newer teachers such as Daley were making ends meet by working at the temporary daycare setup which can only handle a few kids. Daley said she is unsure what the fire will mean for her and her job right now but said she is more concerned about the families who rely on the daycare. “We have 90 families here,” she said. “What are they going to do for childcare?” There is a meeting of the Peace River Child Care Association, which oversees Sugar Plum Daycare, on Tuesday to discuss the next steps. Right now everyone is waiting for the wreckage to cool down. [email protected]
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 21:13:41 +0000