Granger church extends helping hand to those impacted by Mishawaka daycare fire

MISHAWAKA, Ind.— A fiery blaze broke out just after 4 a.m. Thursday morning, at ABC Learn'N'Play, a residential daycare in Mishawaka.

Mishawaka Fire Crews braved the bitter cold to fight the flames.

They said there was no known occupancy at the time of the fire, and luckily no one was hurt.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated by Mishawaka Fire Department.

Crews cleared the scene around noon.

Battalion Chief, Josh Courtney, was on the scene.

He told ABC57, “We've been in defensive mode all morning, right now we are just trying to hit hot spots with the ladder so once that’s taken care of, we can mediate this whole thing”.

Neighbors were grateful they were able to get the fire out without it spreading to nearby houses.

"It was contained to the one structure, we had 4 or 5 handlines in an arial going on it at any time, but as you can see it kind of collapsed on itself, and went from there,” Courtney added.

But there was no saving the daycare facility with a residency on top.

Shocked neighbors said it’s been a daycare as long as they can remember, but it’s gone under new ownership in recent years.

Tysharae Jones, the owner of ABC Learn'N'Play, told ABC57 via Facebook, “We are fine we have other locations thank you. We will leave this up to insurance and continuing serving the community”.

However, one local Granger church and daycare is extending a hand for those impacted.

"We know from the situation we have here that it's hard. People are on waiting lists for a very long time to get into good childcare facilities, so it is hard, and whenever anything like this happens it puts a real strain on the families,” said Krissy Miles a founding pastor of the church.

Nfluence Church in Granger says they currently serve around 65 children but could take about 10-12 more to get through this difficult time.

She said to reach out to their director, Carrie Skalksi, for more information.

Phone: 574-247-9800 Ext. 106

Web: https://nfluencechurch.org/childcare/

Email: [email protected]