Fire Burned Through Memories, Pieces of History, Says Owner of Nova Scotia Daycare

A water bomber plane flies over a RCMP roadblock as smoke fills the sky from an out-of-control fire in a suburban community outside of Halifax that quickly spread, engulfing multiple homes and forcing the evacuation of local residents on May 28, 2023. The Canadian Press/Darren Calabrese

The owner of a Nova Scotia daycare destroyed as recent wildfires ripped through the province says the flames consumed both her livelihood and a physical piece of twentieth-century history.

Among the many memories and treasured family heirlooms lost in the fire that raced through suburban Halifax was a piece of the Berlin Wall belonging to Terri and Lutz Kottwitz. Most of the couple’s belongings were destroyed when wildfires levelled their home in Hammonds Plains, as well as the neighbouring ForestKids Early Learning Centre daycare owned by Terri Kottwitz.