Days after five children died in an overnight fire at an in-home child care center, Erie officials blamed a lack of working smoke detectors and “loopholes” that left the center uninspected in terms of fire protection.
Erie Fire Chief Guy Santone said the center was grandfathered in from registering with the city as a child care facility, and that the state Department of Human Services inspections cover other aspects of child safety but not smoke detectors.
“We were not aware there was a family day care there,” he said at a Tuesday press conference in Erie.
State Sen. Dan Laughlin, a Republican who represents Erie, plans to introduce a bill that would require the Department of Human Services to include the inspection of all smoke detectors in its annual inspection of child care facilities.
He put forth a memo calling for co-sponsors Tuesday.
“My heart breaks for the family,” Mr. Laughlin said in a phone interview. “My goal is to honor the lives of the children.”
Elaine Harris, the owner of Harris Family Daycare, remains in critical condition in Pittsburgh, according to a statement from Erie officials.
The cause of the fire has not been officially announced, but Chief Santone said officials believe it was likely an accidental electrical fire.
“I'm not blaming anybody. All I know is there's some loopholes and we have to close them up,” Chief Santone said.
Chief Santone thanked all the agencies involved in the response, including his own team of responders who tried to save the children.
“These are the firefighters that tried to save the babies that night,” he said at a news conference.
DHS inspects childcare facilities annually, according to the department, “to ensure compliance with health and safety standards.”
However, regulations relating to fire safety address “exits, space heaters, fire places, wood burning/coal burning stoves, and fire drills,” according to a department statement, not “the presence and functionality of smoke detectors.” If it observes a fire safety violation, it will request additional inspections, officials said in a statement.
“This is an unthinkable tragedy, and we are committed to working with other state agencies and local partners to ensure that child care facilities are properly monitored for smoke detectors in the future. We are committed to closing this gap and all options, including amending DHS’ existing regulations, will be considered in the immediate future,” DHS officials said.
Despite many parents who work non-standard hours outside of the traditional 9-to-5 schedule, child care centers that provide overnight care are still somewhat unusual.
Nationally, 2% of center-based providers offer evening care, 6% offer overnight care and 3% offer weekend care, according to information from The National Survey of Early Care and Education. Home-based child care providers are more likely to offer care outside of standard hours, according to the survey.
“As the number of jobs that require non-traditional work schedules ... increases, families’ need for child care during non-traditional hours has also grown. Yet little is known about the availability of non-traditional child care in Pennsylvania,” a study from Philadelphia-based Research for Action noted earlier this year. The study estimated demand for such care likely outstrips supply by more than 3-to-1 in Allegheny County and by a greater ratio elsewhere in the state.
Lauren Lee: llee@post-gazette.com. Kate Giammarise: kgiammarise@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3909.
First Published: August 13, 2019, 7:46 p.m.
