Woman Running Illegal Daycare Left 8 Kids Alone as Apartment Fire Broke Out, Police Say

A Southern California woman was arrested for leaving eight children unsupervised in her apartment, which caught fire while she was away. The woman is also accused of running an illegal daycare center from her apartment, according to authorities.

A 30-year-old woman, Janaina Pio Ferreira, was taken into custody by authorities. Ferreira is accused of running an illegal day care center from her apartment. Ferreira allegedly left eight young children unsupervised in her apartment while she was away. During that time, the apartment caught fire while all eight children were still inside. She was taken into custody and charged with eight counts of unlawful conduct toward a child, according to authorities in North Charleston.

According to a press release from the North Charleston Police Department (NCPD), at around 2:30 p.m. on March 12, officers and firefighters responded to a report of a structure fire at Arbor Square Apartments in the 2600 block of Otranto Road North in North Charleston.

“When the emergency crew arrived, they discovered eight juveniles inside the apartment without adult supervision,” the press release said.

"Officers were told the fire suppression system put out the fire before firefighters arrived, and no injuries were reported."

A short while after officers reached the scene, Ferreira, the resident of the apartment where the fire started, arrived back at her residence with several other children.

Authorities said they determined that Ferreira was running an illegal day care center. She was responsible for caring for the children, but left them unattended inside the residence while the fire broke out.

Ferreira was taken into custody and booked for unlawful conduct toward a child, including one charge for each child who was allegedly left inside the apartment during the fire, according to the press release.

Authorities did not immediately release information regarding the children. Later, authorities contacted the parents of the children who were inside the apartment when the fire broke out.

Ferreira was transported to the AI Cannon Detention Center for processing.

“The North Charleston Fire Department (NCFD) conducted their investigation and concluded that the fire was due to a faulty aftermarket knob to the stove,” the release said.

As investigators further looked into the case, they came to believe that one of the children left a backpack on top of the stove and it caught on fire.

“Kids, sometimes play with fire, sometimes they play with stoves, sometimes they turn on stoves,” NCFD Chief Deputy Christian Rainey said.