BANGOR, Maine — The owners of a child care center near the intersection of Stillwater and Forest avenues are taking steps to ensure no other children escape after a 3-year-old boy managed to make his way out of the building Monday.
The incident at Almighty Beginnings Daycare and Preschool happened around 11:40 a.m. on Monday, when the boy went through an emergency exit door, which was unlocked from the inside in accordance with state regulations.
The preschooler was found by a passerby and was returned to the facility without injury, according to city police.
Since then, owners Brian and Carol Duprey have addressed the issues that enabled the boy to escape, Fire Inspector Greg Day of the state fire marshal’s office said Tuesday.
The owners are installing alarms on the emergency exit doors and additional fencing around the exit at the back of the day care, located in a former church, Day said, which is the door that the 3-year-old got out through on Monday.
Day said that after Monday’s incident, many have asked if the fire marshal’s office will investigate.
“There’s nothing for us to investigate. From a fire marshal point of view, the building meets all fire codes and regulations. It’s fine. It has all the safety features in place,” he said, adding the incident would more appropriately be handled by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services “and I haven’t talked to them.”
The child’s parents, Krystal Higgins of Brewer and James Higgins of Bangor, both said Monday that they were told that DHHS has been contacted. The department’s spokeswoman did not return an email and a voicemail seeking additional information on Tuesday.
Day also noted that the door at issue is not a fire door, as Carol Duprey originally described it, but rather an exit door. Exit doors lead outside of buildings, whereas fire doors are interior doors used in corridors and stairways as protection from hazardous areas, he said.
Either way, he said, “The doors obviously have to be unlocked so that if a fire alarm goes off, we can all exit,” including children.
Day said he was contacted by Brian Duprey immediately after Monday’s incident and that they, along with city fire and code enforcement officials, began working on ways to address the escape problem right away.
“These people run a good facility,” Day said. “Kids run out doors quite a bit, especially in home day cares. It’s a big deal, don’t get me wrong, but it does happen and it prompts a DHHS [review].”
In addition to Almighty Beginnings, the Dupreys own four Little Angels Daycare and Preschool locations, three of those in Bangor and one in Old Town.
Three of their child care facilities — Almighty Beginnings and the Little Angels locations on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor and on Center Street in Old Town — are licensed to serve up to 86 children each, although they could be serving fewer, according to licensing information posted on the state’s website.
The Little Angels facility on Perry Road in Bangor is licensed for up to 80 children, while the Little Angels site on Court Street in Bangor is licensed for up to 49 children.
Of those, DHHS has found deficiencies in the last three years at only the one on Perry Road. In August 2014, a follow-up inspection turned up violations including a TV cord hanging loosely in a place where kids could access it; broken sheetrock accessible to children; a piece of playground equipment that was coming apart; and a refrigerator and freezer with temperatures slightly above those required for food safety.
Day said that child care facilities are subject to annual inspection by the fire marshal’s office. The most recent inspection at Almighty Beginnings was conducted on Aug. 19 of last year, as the facility was getting ready to open.
A city inspection also was conducted at that time and the child care center passed, Bangor Fire Department Fire Inspector Lance Sanborn said Tuesday. He said the building also was inspected within the past month in connection with some minor renovation work there.
City inspections also take place when buildings are expanded or change use.
Sanborn said Tuesday that the fire department last inspected Almighty Beginnings on June 22 for a Certificate of Occupancy inspection after the facility had applied for a building permit and the work had been completed.
The fire department at that time did not find any violations, he said.