A Sallisaw children’s daycare center was heavily damaged in a fire early Sunday morning and the State Fire Marshal investigator suspects arson.

“This is aggravating and gut wrenching. I almost died. This is my personal business. The investigators are trying to make it look like I’m a criminal,” Kristy Kisselburg said.

Kisselburg, 26, of Vian opened Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center in 2004. Miss Kristy’s is at 307 N. Dogwood St. in Sallisaw. Kisselburg added on two new buildings to the original in 2007 because her daycare was growing. Before the fire Kisselburg said she had around 50 children attending.

Miss Kristy’s received extensive damage from the fire that broke out in the kitchen area on the south end of the building authorities said.

Kisselburg said she had spent most of the day Saturday stripping the floors and baseboards in the daycare with gasoline. She said when she deep cleans she uses gas.

Kisselburg said she decided to make something to eat. She fixed two skinless boneless chicken breasts in the oven while she was cleaning. She said after a while she checked the chicken and the smaller piece was done but the thicker piece was not cooked through.

She said she took the piece that was done out and put the other piece back in the oven to finish cooking. She ate the smaller piece of chicken and continued to clean.

“I received a phone call from my boyfriend and we were making plans to watch a movie. I had to go to Fort Smith to buy groceries for the daycare first,” Kisselburg said.

After talking to her boyfriend Kisselburg headed to Fort Smith. She said she didn’t have a second thought about the chicken that she put back in the oven.

Kisselburg left without cleaning up the containers of gas that she was using to clean the floors and baseboards. She said she had a few containers in the kitchen and they were all sealed with lids and she planned on cleaning up after church on Sunday.

“I completely forgot about the chicken in the oven. I had a lot of things to get and do in Fort Smith and my mind went from cleaning to grocery shopping for the daycare,” Kisselburg said.

Kisselburg said she finished the shopping and drove straight to her boyfriend’s house. She put the groceries she just bought in her boyfriend’s refrigerator and finally got to sit down, relax and watch a movie.

“I got home around 1 a.m. Sunday,” Kisselburg said.

Kisselburg woke up Sunday and started getting ready for church. She said she left her house to get her fingernail polish she left at the daycare center.

Kisselburg said when she walked through the door of the daycare center, she smelled something burning and remembered the chicken.

“When I walked into the kitchen I could smell the charred smell. I opened the oven and flames shot out,” Kisselburg said.

Kisselburg said she took off running down the hall and looked back and saw black smoke and flames shooting out. She ran to the neighbors and asked them to call 911.

“The fire department received a 911 call around 10:17 a.m. and the fire trucks arrived on the scene about 10:20 a.m.,” Sallisaw Fire Chief Anthony Armstrong said.

Armstrong said the fire had almost put itself out when the firefighters arrived. He said the remaining flames were under control within five minutes.

Armstrong said the fire was of a suspicious nature, and the State Fire Marshal’s Office was contacted.

Sallisaw Police Officer John Owens reported that when he arrived at the daycare center he could smell a strong odor of gasoline before he entered the building.

Sallisaw Police Chief Shaloa Edwards said Kisselburg told authorities that Saturday night she put a chicken in a gas stove while cleaning the baseboards of the daycare with gasoline.

“Kisselburg said she forgot about the chicken in the stove and left the daycare,” Edwards said.

Edwards said he believes the cause of the fire was a mixture of the gasoline inside of the daycare and the burning chicken.

Kisselburg said detectives and the fire marshal have interrogated her extensively. She said, “It’s obvious that when they saw I had gasoline in there it was the end for me.

“The investigators have already made up their minds and that frustrates me,” Kisselburg. “I feel like I’m a suspect. It’s seems pretty much one sided. I’m going to have to fight to prove my innocence and I will.

“When I opened the oven I almost died. I did not do this on purpose. This is my living,” Kisselburg said. “I’m not admitting to something I didn’t do.”

Joanne Sellars, assistant state fire marshal, said investigating agent Tony Rust declared the daycare fire a crime of arson. She said Rust found multiple areas of origin in the building where fires began. The local authorities served a search warrant and several items of evidence were collected.

“This is just the beginning state of the investigation. The state fire marshals will be working with the local authorities to gather more information,” Sellars said during a phone interview Monday.

Kisselburg expressed concern about where the children she had enrolled in her daycare are going to go.

“People have to take their children some where. I’m so sorry I’m not here for the parents,” Kisselburg said.

She said the only thing that helps her get through each day is the parents, her staffs’ support, and the community members that stand by her side while she is being investigated.

“If the investigators keep pursuing and blaming me there wont be a Miss Kristy’s anymore. The investigators won’t release the daycare and there is no telling how long my business is going to sit there,” Kisselburg said.

“The damage to the daycare,” Sellars said, “is estimated around $150,000.”

Armstrong said the new part of the daycare received heavy smoke damage. He said the older area received major smoke and heat damage.

Kisselburg said when she does get the all clear from the fire marshal she has several people in the community who have already volunteered their time to help restore the daycare. She said if the marshal would clear it she could use the newer part and block the kitchen area off of the old part, which is the part that received the most damage.

“That’s possible to do but impossible with the fire marshal. If they don’t clear it there won’t be a Miss Kristy’s and the parent will have the fire marshals and the detectives to thank for that,” Kisselburg said.

Kisselburg said if parents have any questions or concerns they can put them in the black mailbox in the front of Miss Kristy’s.