Fort Smith (May 05/03) - The Fort Smith Community Day Care Centre is no more following a devastating fire last Wednesday.

"It's essentially a total loss of the day-care building," says Fort Smith fire Chief Darren Linaker. A passerby noticed the blaze at about 7:30 a.m. on April 30.

Linaker says when firefighters arrived there was heavy smoke inside the building and flames were visible through the windows.

"The fire had definitely taken hold of the building," he explains. There was no one in the building at the time.

When the fire was out, heavy equipment was brought in to knock down the standing walls and dig through the rubble for hot spots.

The building, which was insured, was owned by the territorial government.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by the RCMP and the NWT Fire Marshal's Office, and is currently undetermined.

RCMP Sgt. Daryl Key says it might be a significant amount of time before a cause is found because of the total destruction of the building.

The non-profit day care was licensed for 25 children, but had been accommodating between nine and 13 youngsters.

Susan Catling, the treasurer with the day care's board of directors, says Aurora College is looking into offering space for the day care, since many of the parents are college students.

Catling says the day care lost toys, three computers, major appliances and other items in the fire.

"Basically, everything has been lost. So we have to start from scratch again," she says, adding the day-care centre is preparing a list of destroyed items to estimate the value of its losses.

The day care's lost items were insured, Catling says, but it might be a while before the coverage comes through.

She says the day care is now looking for support from the community and fundraising will begin immediately.