Parkside Early Learning Centre opening delayed by mine shaft

A shock find at the scene of a fire that destroyed a Gympie business has delayed the reopening of the neighbouring childcare centre after almost a month.

A dangerous discovery under a building destroyed by fire in November 2022 has delayed the reopening of the neighbouring childcare centre.

Childcare workers moved to teaching online and at community facilities after the Parkside Early Learning Centre on Tozer Park Road was forced to close after neighbouring cleaning business Sun-Chem Quality Cleaning Products went up in flames.

The centre has been closed for three weeks but owner Andrew Riley and staff had hoped they could welcome back the “Parkside family” from Monday, December 12.

But they were dealt another blow on Friday afternoon when an old mine shaft was discovered under a concrete slab on the Tozer Park Rd site.

The childcare centre reopening depends on the clean-up of the site after a fire gutted the building and released a chemical smell throughout the neighbourhood.

“The frustrating thing for us is that it is the neighbouring site that we are totally at the mercy of and we cannot control it,” Mr Riley said.

“We continue to do everything we can to put pressure on Sun-Chem to have their site cleared.”

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Mr Riley said whenever industrial hygienists found something new and potentially dangerous in the burnt building, the opening of the centre was delayed again.

Mr Riley said on Monday, December 12 he was expecting to reopen on Monday, December 19.

The building that housed cleaning business Sun-Chem is in the process of being torn down.

He said he feared the worst-case scenario when he first learnt of the fire but felt “a lot better” now that he won’t have to shut the centre permanently.

The child care centre was not damaged in the fire but requires a high-level commercial clean before reopening.

Mr Riley are working with their insurance company to cover some financial losses.

Aftermath of the chemical fire at Sun-Chem Quality Cleaning Products in Gympie. Picture: Barb Bailey-Dahlheimer.

The educators and staff have been connecting with and supporting their families through online teaching and arranged meetings in parks, the library and even the aquatic centre.

“We aren’t charging our families, but we have made the decision to continue to pay our staff,” Mr Riley said.

“Our educators are like family to us and you look after your family.”

The Sun-Chem fire in Gympie has left Parkside Early Learning Centre in the lurch. Pictures: Supplied.

Mr Riley said he was almost brought tears from the “humbling and overwhelming” supportive emails, messages and kind words he has received from families.

Almost all of the centre’s customers have remained through the online learning and it was expected that all families would return on the opening day.

Mr Riley said the last two years had been extremely difficult for the “Parkside family”.

He said it took seven years from when they first purchased the centre to turn it into the “wonderful” business it was today.

“We’ve had Covid, floods and now this which has brought us to our knees, and all in the lead up to Christmas,” he said.