Daycare staff didn’t move napping kids during fire, police say; 1 arrested

CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WTVC/CNN) - A fire at a Tennessee daycare on Thursday was very close to turning tragic.

When deputies arrived on scene, they arrested a daycare worker, who admitted to drinking on the job.

Thankfully, all 27 children made it out of the burning building OK.

An arrest report indicated the staff didn’t want to wake kids who were sleeping.

“Absolute panic, rage, disgust” are the emotions Hannah McClain said she felt thinking about why staff didn’t immediately move the kids out of danger, including her 5-year-old daughter, who was inside sleeping when Little Lambs daycare caught fire.

“I’m just nervous about how I’m going to move forward, From all of this. I’m sorry, I’m getting emotional,” she said. “That’s their lives, and it’s in your hands to fix, and you couldn’t even get them up from naptime.”

In a surveillance video from the auto shop next door, you can see the fire started on the side building.

“That whole backside was on fire. It was big black smoke,” said Katie Brown, Cleveland Collision owner.

“The children were sleeping. They immediately jumped into action and began to pull children from from beds,” said Adam Lewis, Bradley County EMA, of their emergency response.

According to the arrest report, the suspect, James Carpenter, appeared intoxicated and admitted to drinking multiple servings of vodka, whiskey and several beers.

Carpenter was charged with 27 counts of child neglect and intoxication. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

“It’s certainly a unique situation. It’s not something that we see, nor do we want to see happen on a regular basis,” Lewis said.

Christine Brady said an employee hit her child at Little Lambs four years ago.

“I thought it was safe. And I was a child welfare worker,” she said.

This state violation report backs that up, showing a worker “spanked a 4-year-old then laughed at the crying child.”

The report shows the staff was trained on anger management but doesn’t say the staff member was fired.

“I’m not saying that that fire is a good thing. But maybe it’s a blessing in disguise,” Brady said.

“My child’s life was in their hands. And they’ve betrayed it,” McClain said.

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