The ABC Day Care Center Fire in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, took place on Friday, June 5, 2009. Forty four children died that day and the death toll subsequently rose as additional children succumbed to their injuries. As of June 7, 44 toddlers and infants were reported killed as a result of the blaze. Five additional children died in the coming weeks, raising the final death toll to 49. Over 40 infants and toddlers and six adults were hospitalized with burns.
Background
Governor Eduardo Bours announced that the daycare's owners had familial ties to state government officials, state PRI party officials and First Lady Margarita Zavala shortly after the fire. The daycare was federally funded but privately operated. The government's Social Security Institute provided a contract for operation. Two state officials, Antonio Salido Suárez and Alfonso Escalante Hoeffer, resigned in the aftermath of the incident but were not arrested. Their two wives co-owned the daycare center.
The daycare center had passed an inspection on May 26, the week prior to the blaze. The number of enrolled children, 142 as well as the 6 staff members providing care for them were also within the approved ratio of caregiver to children for day care centers. Reports two days after the blaze revealed, however, that although the warehouse had windows, they were mounted too high and did not provide access to the daycare center for rescue operations. A fire department officer unofficially reported that the converted warehouse building had only one operational exit. One mother claimed a second exit was locked and the key could not be found.
Fire
The blaze started at 3 p.m. (22:00 GMT) on Friday, June 5, 2009, with over 142 children reported to be in the day care center. Initial reports stated the fire began in an adjacent tire warehouse next door and spread to the child care center. Further investigation revealed that the actual source was another warehouse, operated by the state government. Within minutes, the fire caused the collapse of a roof section which fell on the children, infants and employees below. One of the first responders on the scene reported that all children were unconscious or dead and there were no sounds of children crying.
Firefighters took two hours to contain the blaze. "They told me that this happened in a matter of five minutes," said Hermosillo Mayor Ernesto Gándara. "According to what our people saw, there was an explosion followed immediately by flames," reported Daniel Karam, the director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). "We began to smell smoke and the alarm went off. But it was explosive and there was no chance to get more children out," stated María Adriana Gasca Sandoval, a daycare aide.
A desperate passerby, Francisco Manuel López Villaescusa, drove his Silverado truck through the walls to gain entrance and knocked three holes into the building.
Victims
According to Sonora Governor Eduardo Bours the day of the blaze, "There were 142 children in the nursery, 35 have died, and another 41 are hospitalized." Two days later on Sunday, Sonora state Health Minister Raymundo López Vucovich announced, "In the past few hours three more have died. Twelve of the 22 hospitalized children are in a dangerous condition." Deaths occurred from smoke inhalation, burns, and trauma from the roof collapse.
