SAN ANTONIO – A day care center spokeswoman on Thursday praised staff for ensuring the safety of 63 children when a fire broke out at the Northeast Side facility.
Bright Kids Day Care spokeswoman Sharon Scallion said most of the children were outside the building in the 3900 block of Thousand Oaks Drive when a teacher saw a spark in the ceiling of the building at around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Some infants and school-aged children were inside the building when the fire broke out, Scallion said.
Babies were escorted out of the building in cribs, she said.
Since there was no fire alarm, teachers informed the children on the playground about the fire and got a head count by the back gate and got them out to safety.
Scallion described the actions of nine teachers a "tremendous act of bravery."
"To see these teachers go straight into action without losing control, because it was engulfed. The building just started collapsing and it was amazing," she said. "But they stayed so focused on those kids just getting them out to safety. they never looked back. It was just about getting them out to the next location, getting them safe."
Scallion said some good Samaritans -- some of whom who stopped in the middle of the street -- helped to get the children to safety.
Management at an apartment complex next door shut down its office also helped escort kids to safety.
The day care was operating despite a fire-safety violation uncovered by The Department of Family and Protective Services during an inspection in 2016.
The KSAT 12 Defenders reported that the violation centered on a state-mandated fire inspection that was eight months overdue.
Related: Day care ravaged by fire had recent 'high risk' violations in 2016
Scallion blamed the delay on a classroom door that engineers couldn't get approved.
"Because they couldn't approve the drawings of the design, so that would be put off," she said. "But it wasn't because, 'Oh, we didn't want to do the inspection.' It was that we were working with engineers trying to find the right one who could do the drawings and the inspection that could help pass because the fire department wouldn't approve that. So it was put off for those reasons."
The door was eventually approved and installed, Scallion said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The building will more than likely be demolished, Scallion said.
A portable building will be brought in during the rebuilding process.
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