Under Construction, Sunnyside Health Facility Destroyed In Fire

Construction at Love and Joy Personal Care Home's new facility in Sunnyside was nearly completed - workers were set to install gas and water meters in the coming days - when a fire tore through the 15,000-square-foot structure early Tuesday. The building would have been one of six facilities operated by Bringing Love Back Into the Community LLC, a health care services nonprofit with operationsin Houston and in Brazoria, Galveston and Fort Bend counties. The new facility would have allowed the organization to provide programming to 140 people, Swirczynski said, explaining that the destroyed structure was to have housed 40 people - most with mental illnesses or disabilities - and provided day services to 100 others. The agency was established to provide care to the mentally challenged and to give them a place to congregate with others while providing them care and taking care of their medical needs, according to the facility's website. Tuesday morning, arson investigators could be seen combing through the maze of snarled metal roofing and the rubble of collapsed brick walls, looking for clues.