Staff wheeled cribs holding children and led others by the hand after a fire forced the evacuation of a daycare at the Uptown shopping centre on Friday.
Saanich firefighters responded to a small kitchen fire at the Noodle Box restaurant, located below the Kids and Company daycare, about 11:45 a.m. The fire on the rangehood of the cooking space was quickly contained. It spread into the walls, but not the ceiling.
When a fire call comes in close to a daycare “our heart rate really steps up,” said Lt. Tak Niketas of the Saanich Fire Department.
“We had all trucks coming to this call … when we heard a daycare was above, we made sure to get these kids out right away.”
The daycare was evacuated and “a thorough search was conducted,” Niketas said. The children were able to go back inside the building about an hour later.
Tricia McGrath was at the daycare with her two sons, ages 2 and 4. “I would have been a lot more worried had I not been here,” McGrath said. Her older son is on the autism spectrum and she knows he is sensitive to sounds like fire alarms.
McGrath said she and her sons have practised the daycare’s fire drills. She praised how the staff was able to bring the children out in a safe and orderly fashion.
The fire’s cause is under investigation and the estimated damage has yet to be determined.
