A4 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 9, 2002 Fire destroys new playground at Pilgrim Wood Y By Howard Mozel O AKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Shocked by the destruction by fire of the playground equipment at Pilgrim Wood Junior YMCA Childcare Centre on Sunday, staff quickly turned the upsetting situation into a pos itive one. Rather than frighten the centre's toddlers with a story about the "bad people" who burned their equipment to the ground, said centre super intendent Deanna Malicki, children were instead given a talk about fire prevention and safety. "It's a sad day," said Malicki, who took par ents aside as they arrived Monday morning and explained the incident. "Most of the kids just wanted to know where they would play now, but one child looked blown away by this." The incident was disturbing to the entire Y family, especially after everyone was riding so high after Sunday's official opening of the agency's new Rebecca Street facility. Oakville Y CEO Bruce Ireland said he received a call around 11 p.m. and went down to Pilgrim Wood to survey the damage. "The playground was totally destroyed," he said. "The heat was so intense the drapes in the school were melted from the heat." Fortunately, said Ireland, the over-heated windows did not shatter, or else he fears the blaze could have spread into the school. To add insult to injury, the playground equip ment had been installed only last month in order to meet to new provincial safety standards -- one of eight YMCA facilities to be renovated. At a cost of $50,000, the Pilgrim Wood equipment required financial help from Halton Region has well as fundraising efforts by parents and others. Vandals burned a portion of the site in July when construction was still under way (the for mer equipment was torched five years ago) but luckily damage was not extensive. On Sunday night, the plastic equipment and especially the thick rubber safety pad were fully involved in flames and threw off heat so intense the school was threatened and a pair of new, 14-ft. trees were damaged. A toy box containing a variety of diversions for the children also melted. According to Y Director of Children and Community Services Lee-Ann Hand, the climb ing unit alone cost more than $40,000 while the rubber safety surface will be at least $10,000 to replace. When labour and other costs are fac tored in, total replacement could cost $70,000. Just to top off an already bad event, Y play ground equipment at St. Bernadette School was also damaged by fire sometime over the week end, but not as extensively as Pilgrim Wood. Ireland, who said the Y's insurance company is now involved, explained that being so late in the season the equipment likely won't be replaced until next spring. In the meantime, said Malicki, the 24 chil dren who use the centre daily will have super vised play in the adjacent public park and staff will come up with other activities. All that remains now, said Ireland, is for justice to be served. "We'd just like to get (those responsible) caught," he said. Liesa Kortmann · Oakville Beaver LOWEST PRICES Le x m * vrk X 75 COLOUR ALL-IN-ONE · Printer, copier, scanner · Up to 240 0 x 1200 dpi · Prints 11 ppm black, 6 ppm colour · 48-bit colour scanning 494858 ON OFFICE EQUIPMENT & MORE! Newly-installed playground equipment at the Pilgrim Wood Junior YMCA Childcare Centre was destroyed by fire Sunday night. Vandals had already burned a portion of the site in July when construction was still under way, but luckily damage was not extensive. The total replace ment cost for the playground is estimated at $70,000. 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