An accident during roof repairs that started a fire at a day care center Wednesday left staffers and dozens of families scrambling to find temporary alternatives for the children enrolled there.
The afternoon fire at the Kidspace Child Enrichment Center near the Vancouver Mall forced about 50 children and 10 staff members to evacuate.
Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said investigators found that roofers on the building inadvertently caught something on fire, doing an estimated $100,000 in damage.
Kathy Stanley, one of the day care center and preschool’s directors, said much of the space in the building will be unusable for the immediate future, and staff are looking for temporary space.
The day care has arranged space for after-school care at Walnut Grove Elementary School starting Feb. 1, and it’s working on a similar arrangement with Orchards Elementary, the business said on its Facebook page.
Even with that relief, housing the preschoolers presents other challenges.
Kidspace’s building manager allowed the business the use of nearby space in the complex, Stanley said.
“Because we lost a large portion of our center, we don’t have room to house all of our children there at once, and we wanted to use a portion of this space in order to take care of our kiddos and families,” she said.
There might be some snags with state rules for day care centers, though.
The Washington State Department of Early Learning has been helpful, she said, but an official told her Thursday the new building hasn’t been inspected and licensed as required for day cares, and the new space doesn’t have adequate restroom facilities.
The state requires one per 15 students, she said, and they’re a few children over.
“Which is fine, I’m good with all that, and I think we can probably move those kind of things along, but it’s a long process,” she said. “We already have a license, and we are in very good standing. … We’re talking just a couple steps away from our building, and we’re talking temporary.”
Stephanie Liden, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Department of Early Learning, said these circumstances are handled on a case-by-case basis.
Any new facility will have to meet the state requirements, which are set to keep children safe, she said, but the department will work to expedite the process.
The business has a great record, and it won’t need to start from scratch with a new license for a new address, she said.
“We really want them to open again soon, because we know what a quality establishment they are,” Liden said. She said it’ll likely take a couple of months before the building is fully repaired.
Stanley said she’s hopeful after hearing from another business in the complex, which neighbors the proposed temporary space and offered to knock down a wall and let children at the center use a bathroom there.
“People are trying to try to make this happen,” she said. “You know what, it’s not just Kidspace anymore. We’ve got the whole community pulling together and it feels so good.”
