Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Eldridge Street Fire Closes Preschool of America, Leaves Parents Scrambling

By DNAinfo Staff on February 16, 2012 6:53am  | Updated on February 16, 2012 10:06am

Parents were scrambling after a fire broke out at 39 Eldridge St., where a pre-school is located on the first floor.
Parents were scrambling after a fire broke out at 39 Eldridge St., where a pre-school is located on the first floor.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Sonja Sharp

By Sonja Sharp and Wil Cruz

DNAinfo Staff

LOWER EAST SIDE — A pre-dawn fire on Eldridge Street Thursday has temporarily closed a preschool in the same building — sending teachers and parents racing to make last-minute backup plans.. 

Preschool of America, on the first floor of 39 Eldridge St., posted teachers and the director of the school outside the front door near Canal Street on Thursday morning, hours after a fire ripped through the fifth floor of the building. The organization has eight locations across the city, according to its website.

The school did not appear to be be damaged during the 3:40 a.m. fire, FDNY officials said., but was shut down because of lingering smoke and electricity problems caused by the fire.

The Lower East Side location of Preschool of America had to shut Feb. 16, 2012, after a fire broke out on the fifth floor of the building.
The Lower East Side location of Preschool of America had to shut Feb. 16, 2012, after a fire broke out on the fifth floor of the building.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Sonja Sharp

The fire was under control about an hour after it started. The cause was under investigation, officials said.

The unexpected closure sent parents and teachers rushing to make alternate plans for the school's 150 children.

"Actually, it's going to change my day a lot," said Jeremy Platt, 37, who planned to accompany his son on a field trip to the Museum of Natural History. "Now I have to drop him off. I'm kind of sad."

Teacher Debora Schwab, 27, feared the worst when she came upon the building Thursday morning.

"I thought it was a bomb," she said. "But that's just New York — what are you going to do?"

And Maude Wiltshire, 34, was on the phone with her boss getting permission to bring her child to work.

"I just have to take my kid to work with me," Wiltshire said. "But I work in a school, so hopefully it's okay.

"It doesn't surprise me," she added. "There [are] fires every night in New York City."

Chih-Chin Sun, 43, said she would have to scramble to find a babysitter.

"It's just so hard for all the working parents, last minute, when you have to find a babysitter. But this school is so amazing, we all help each other. We're just going to arrange a couple of playdates. I guess I'll work from home today and take care of them."

The second-alarm fire at 39 Eldridge Street raged for more than an hour in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2012.
The second-alarm fire at 39 Eldridge Street raged for more than an hour in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2012.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Sonja Sharp

Ten firefighters were hurt in the fire, officials said. They were taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries.