Less than a month after its unveiling, the $30,000 Super Slider at Kessler Elementary School that children saved their pennies for has big holes melted in it.

A custodian discovered the damage Monday morning, said Sandy Catt, spokeswoman for Longview School District.

The damage upset Nailynn Bingman, 7, who will start second grade this fall at Kessler.

“I felt mad,” said Nailynn, who collected “more than three bucks” worth of pennies to help buy the equipment. She said she loved playing on it.

“It’s like three slides right next to each other and they’re really fun,” she said. “They make you go really fast.”

Detective Sgt. Mike Hallowell said fireworks caused the damage. Police are investigating.

“It’s not fit for play,” Catt said Monday, adding that the slide has been cordoned off to keep children away.

The equipment includes three connected slides of green and yellow. It’s the middle of those three that was burned, Catt said, and the melted slide caused the two on either side to warp.

The vandalism occurred sometime over the Independence Day weekend, Catt said.

The human resources manager of Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, which has a budget to help the school, said she was “devastated to hear what happened.”

“There’s holes burned all the way through,” Andrea Crenshaw said. “It’s unbelievable. It wasn’t just fireworks going off — it’s huge holes all the way through.”

Longview Rotary donated approximately $17,000 toward the equipment, which was dedicated June 18. Kessler schoolchildren helped the Parent-Teacher Organization raise $7,000 in seed money through “Pennies for the Playground.” More than 100 individuals, businesses and organizations helped with the project, according to the school district’s Web site, http://www.longview.k12.wa.us/, which has a photo of the slide’s dedication ceremony.

“We are going to explore how we can get this repaired as soon as possible,” Catt said.

“We are looking to see where we can help,” Crenshaw said. “We’re looking to see what our options are.”

Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to call Longview Police, 442-5800, or Crime Stoppers of Cowlitz County, 577-1206.

Emergency dispatchers took more than 100 fireworks-related calls for Longview and Kelso police and Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies over the Independence Day weekend, according to dispatch logs.

Update

A work party will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Kessler Elementary School to fix up the outside playground, playing fields and other outdoor areas, said Andrea Crenshaw of Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse. Lowe’s is a supporter of the school, where vandals recently damaged new playground equipment.