Pawtucket daycare damaged by fire

January 13, 2016 6:22 pm

By Melissa Randall

mrandall@abc6.com

On a typical Wednesday afternoon there would be dozens of children running around El Bebe Day Care Center in Pawtucket, but not today. The business is closed after it was damaged in a fire.

"There were 2 staff members in the building at the time and they heard an explosion in the back," said owner Luis Briceno.

As bad as things are they could have been much worse. The fire happened after hours. All the children had left about a half hour prior.

"It’s a blessing. I have to thank God for that. This is the most important thing. The building can be fixed. A life? No," said Briceno.

The day care could be closed for as long as a month. Briceno tells ABC6 News that his top priority is to find another place for the 72 kids in his before and after school programs to go.

"I hope parents understand that this was out of my hands. I never expected this, but it happened and we have to deal," he said.

"We’re going to look at another site and hopefully make plans before the end of the day to make sure kids are places as quickly as possible," said Kevin Savage of DCYF.

Savage toured a possible alternative location Wednesday. If suitable his department says it will work with El Bebe to get it open as quickly as possible. In the meantime nearby day care centers have offered to help out.

"If this happened to any other site they’d want to know that people were available to help them, and so they’ve made themselves available to the families involved with El Bebe," said Savage.

Briceno believes a faulty electrical wire is to blame for the fire. The official cause remains under investigation.