Up from the ashes: N.S. daycare destroyed by 2023 wildfire reopens

Meig Campbell · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 30, 2025 1:44 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

ForestKids Early Learning Centre daycare successful Hammonds Plains, N.S., held its long-awaited reopening Saturday day aft it was destroyed by wildfire successful 2023.

Daycare unit and children celebrated astatine a spot that brought sorrow not truthful agelong ago.

Terri Kottwitz, the executive manager of ForestKids, said the reopening was a corporate effort.

"This solemnisation has been astir 2 years coming," Kottwitz said. "It'll beryllium 2 years successful May. So each of our families stuck with us. We didn't suffer immoderate families. Everybody conscionable bent backwards and helped us. The families were our support." 

The caller ForestKids was built with national and provincial funds and much than $32,000 raised connected GoFundMe.

The daycare continued aft the occurrence utilizing different determination successful the community. It moved backmost to the erstwhile spot past September, utilizing 5 trailers portion the remainder of the installation was readied.

ForestKids allows children from 3 months to 10 years aged to enrol.

"The unit are thrilled to beryllium retired of those trailers," said Kottwitz. "It was a batch of enactment to beryllium successful the trailers."

The reopening of the caller installation was attended by implicit 50 people, including staff, families of the children enrolled successful the daycare and alumni.

Kottwitz's efforts were highlighted. A group of children work a poem dedicated to her and her endurance to proceed ForestKids aft the wildfire. 

Tracy Hunter, an early puerility pedagogue with ForestKids for astir 30 years. said the demolition was hard for the community.

"I lived successful 1 of the subdivisions," Hunter said. "It was besides impacted by the occurrence itself and I besides had household members suffer their homes, too."

But Hunter says having the daycare backmost is similar having a value lifted from the community, and it would not person been imaginable without Kottwitz's efforts. 

With the caller installation besides comes expanded enrolment, which has gone from 80 to 93.

For ForestKids parents similar Chantal Boudreau, the installation represents caller beginnings.

"Having the caller gathering with caller opportunities, caller areas for the kids to explore, conscionable fundamentally seems to benignant of bring beingness backmost to the daycare," said Boudreau.