A fire started on the roof of the Kidspace Child Enrichment Center east of Vancouver Mall on Wednesday afternoon, forcing about 50 children and 10 staff members to evacuate the day care center and preschool.
Firefighters were called to the center at 5145 N.E. 94th Ave. at around 4 p.m., Vancouver Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Huffman said at the scene.
The center’s staff gathered all the children, had an emergency plan in place, and executed it well, Huffman said. No one was injured.
“I’m real impressed,” Huffman said.
Firefighters responded en masse, bringing five engines, two ladder trucks and several additional support vehicles. Huffman said crews found a fire churning through the building’s attic space.
Mariah Gonzales was pulling up to the building to pick up her 3-year-old son, Kai, when she saw emergency vehicles around the building.
Kai, she said, was doing just fine.
“He was excited to see the firemen and he wanted to check back and see the fire,” she said.
Little exterior damage was visible from ground level. Huffman said the fire made its way from the roof into the space between the roof and the building’s ceiling. The fire was under control after about 20 minutes, he said.
He said roofers were working on top of the building when the fire started.
Investigators were still on scene an hour or so after the fire started, and information about the fire’s cause was unavailable. The roofers reportedly were using a blow torch as part of their work when the fire sparked, according to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian.
Some roads on the east side of the mall were closed down while firefighters worked.
