Fire ravages daycare centre: nobody hurt

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca



Sixty-eight children will be attending daycare in the basement hall of a church for a while, after their usual daycare centre Le monde des tous petits was caught in a blaze yesterday evening.

"It was one of the mothers who said there was a bit of a fire inside the roof," said Pat Verrillo, who co-owns and runs the daycare centre with his wife.

At around 5:15 p.m. yesterday, Verrillo said the parent who had come to pick up her child noticed the first signs of the flames. He said the 15 or so children who were still at the centre were immediately evacuated, and he ran back in to check if anyone was left inside.

"It's kind of depressing," Verillo said, as the couple had finished renovating the centre a year ago. Now, piles of soot and ashes surround a purple children's' slide and other toys on the second floor of the centre. Beams of sunlight poke through the torn shingles of the roof.

"The firemen came in and tore down the roof to put out the fire," Verillo explained. The bottom floor looks relatively untouched, save for puddles and traces of water from the hoses.

As of tomorrow, the children will be temporarily relocated to the Mary Queen of Peace Parish, which is a short walk away from Le monde on Gouin Boulevard in Pierrefonds/Roxboro. "Our doors are open," said Father Francis McKee, "(for) as long as it takes."

Though other groups such as seniors' organizations use the church's basement hall, McKee said that everybody would simply have to learn to live together. "I say get used to it man," he laughed.

Pierrefonds/Roxboro mayor Monique Worth said she got a call about the fire and drove there on the night itself. "It was a serious situation," she said. "I was in contact with the Mary Queen of Peace Parish." One of their clergy members assured her that they would be helping out, she said. The borough is also keeping an eye out for any additional shelters for the children in case the demands become more than the church can handle, Worth added.

A fireman was inspecting the roof this afternoon. The cause of the fire and the cost of damages are still unclear.