Report: Tennessee daycare didn't wake napping children during fire

Thankfully, all of the 27 children made it out of the burning building safely, but the daycare worker's arrest report indicates staff didn't want to wake children who were sleeping.

Hannah McClain's 5-year-old daughter was inside sleeping when Little Lambs Daycare caught fire.

"I'm just nervous about how I'm going to move forward from all of this," a visibly distraught McClain said.

McClain said she gets emotional thinking about why staff didn't immediately move the kids out of danger.

"That's their lives, and it's in your hands to fix, and you couldn't even get them up from naptime," McClain said.

Surveillance video from the auto shop next door shows the fire started on the side of the building.

"That whole backside was on fire. It was big black smoke," said Katie Brown, owner of Cleveland Collision.

According to the arrest report, the suspect, James Carpenter, appeared intoxicated and admitted to drinking multiple servings of vodka, whiskey and several beers.

"It's certainly a unique situation, it's not something that we see, nor do we want to see happen on a regular basis," Adam Lewis with Bradley County Emergency Management said.

Another mother, Christine Brady, said an employee hit her child at Little Lambs four years ago.

"I thought it was safe," she said. "And I was a child welfare worker."

A state violation report backs up her claims, showing a worker "spanked a 4-year-old then laughed at the crying child."

The report shows the staff was trained on anger management but doesn't say the staff member was fired.

"I'm not saying that that fire is a good thing," Brady said. "But maybe it's a blessing in disguise."

"My child's life was in their hands," McClain said. "And they've betrayed it."

Carpenter was charged with 27 counts of child neglect and intoxication. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.