Perth ECEC community rallies for Playtime Mandurah after electrical fire

The Perth long day care (LDC) community has rallied around the staff and families of Playtime Early Learning Mandurah after an electrical fire destroyed its building last week.

Half an hour after closing the building caught fire due to an electrical fault in the centre’s kitchen. Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire within an hour and a half, however the service is unable to be used due to the damage, something Director Emma Small described as ‘heartbreaking’. 

“As you can imagine, we are all heartbroken and still trying to process it ourselves,” she shared with local news source Perth Now. 

Ms Small said the fire has had a devastating effect on the service community, but that the love and support they have received since is “amazing.” 

Playtime has been working with the Education and Care Regulatory Unit to find places for children attending Playtime at other local centres, including at the daycare’s sister site Little Learners Early Learning in Falcon.

Barefoot Early Learning in Erskine is one of the centres that will take on families who were attending Playtime, with owner and director Sylvia Beukes saying the centre has received eight inquiries and three enrolments on Thursday morning and would waive enrolment fees to assist families.

“In a time of need, we all need to work together to help each other out,” Ms Beukes shared with Perth Now, promising to “do everything we can to help and support Emma, the team, and all families affected.” 

To read the original coverage of this story please see here.