The outlook for ForestKids Early Learning in Hammonds Plains, N.S., looked grim when their daycare and the surrounding community fell victim to a wildfire in 2023.
It is not only Terri Kottwitz’s livelihood but also her home.
Burnt trees and a portable trailer, similar to what could be seen on a construction site, are the backdrop to the walls of what the daycare plans to reopen as their main building. Wooden frames can be seen outlining what promises to be a long-awaited venture for Kottwitz.
The daycare started this construction months after clearing the area of burnt debris.
“In a way, it’s hard because the educators don’t get together, and the children are more secluded,” she told Global News in an interview on Tuesday.
“It’s time for the trailers to go — we’ve had the trailers since September.”
The effects of the wildfire were devastating for the community. More than 16,000 people were evacuated from their homes, and the out-of-control blaze destroyed some 200 structures.
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That fire burned 969 hectares and was said to have cost the Halifax Regional Municipality about $11.7 million.
Since the wildfire, it’s been over a year of change and adaptation to keep the daycare afloat.
Without insurance, owners had to switch to a non-profit model to receive government grants to rebuild. The longtime owners wanted to make sure the community continued to have child care in its unique way.
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“So now our community has their own child-care centre and that’s pretty exciting,” told Kottwitz.
It also means moving kids out of separated trailers, which have all the same amenities, without the space.
The daycare, which is focused on outdoor learning and play, hopes that when kids are back together in the same building, they will have better learning outcomes.
“You have more teachers to lean on,” educator Melany Brigley told Global News about having more kids together in the same building.
“You can work more as a group and have more ideas if you want to feed on and expand on whatever activity they’re working on at the time.”
Students of Brigley have been closely watching the construction in anticipation of the building opening, which Kottwitz estimates will be finished by the end of the year.
— with files from Rebecca Lau and the Canadian Press
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