EDMONTON – Students and staff at Velma E. Baker elementary school arrived to an unpleasant surprise Friday morning: their school playground had suffered serious fire damage overnight.
“It looks like they threw some kind of liquid on it or something and set it on fire,” said the school’s head custodian, Pradeep Singh.
The playground smelled of gasoline Friday morning. The fire was so intense it melted some of the steel support structures.
Fire crews were called to the south Edmonton playground around 2a.m. Friday and were able to douse the fire quickly.
Students arrived at school Friday morning to yellow police tape surrounding their playground. They say they’re upset and very disappointed.
“It’s a real shame because we we love this park. It’s our home. It’s our hangout place. We love this. It’s not just our school that plays on this, it’s the whole community,” said Grade 6 student Megan Van Dam.
“I grew up here…since kindergarten and just seeing it like this, I don’t know, it makes me feel shocked,” said fellow Grade 6 student Natalie Thorarinson. “This is the place where we all hang out, every season, every day and this is the place where we all supersize our exercise.”
The park was funded in part by the “pennies for the park” fundraiser students and staff held in 2008 and 2009.
“They collected $5,000 in pennies so that they could put a piece in the park,” said Emily Ollerhead, a member of the school’s parent group.
Ollerhead says the students and community members in the area are very passionate about their community and say the fire is extremely disappointing.
“It was actually very sad and emotional for me when I pulled in the parking lot this morning,” said Ollerhead. “It actually really bothered me. It’s so sad to think that people would think this is actually funny, because it’s not funny.”
The playground is insured and will be replaced. City officials say the first order of business is to ensure the playground is safe.
“We’ll start removing pieces and rebuilding. It will be replaced. Unfortunately, at this time of year sometimes it’s a little hard to do some of these things,” explained Yvon Benoit. “Taking the stuff down it not a lengthy (process) but, it’s getting the replacement parts from the playground companies, is really what takes a while.”
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Until then, students say they will have to find a new place to play.
“It feels like a part of the whole school area is taken apart. Because our school, we focus on citizenship and leadership and none of this demonstrates that at all,” said Thorarinson. “As soon as this can get fixed, the happier I will be.”
“I would love to get this fixed up as soon as possible, because the little kids love it and we love it,” added Van Dam.
The fire is being considered arson and is still under investigation.
With files from Fletcher Kent, Trish Kozicka, Global News.
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