It’s been nearly three weeks since an early morning fire put the arena out of commission.
Despite the inconvenience, the town’s athletes are getting creative. Hockey teams are practicing on Mildred Lake and scheduling their games in Hinton, so they don’t miss a beat.
And in the meantime, municipal staff and contractors are doing everything they can to get the facility up and running.
The good news: the fire was contained to the Zamboni room. The bad news: smoke travels. So, of the $1.126 million dollars of insured damage, one million dollars covers the cost of cleaning alone. The trophy cases have been wiped down, the beams on the ceiling have been washed and the arena has received a fresh coat of paint.
Since the fire, which started in a cupboard around 2 a.m., the arena has been a hive of activity, to get all of that work done.
Sadly, there’s more bad news. The ol’ Zamboni is a write off. Peter Waterworth, chief administrative officer for the municipality, announced the news at the committee-of-the-whole meeting on Tuesday.
Although a small fire, the damage to the arena and its equipment is extensive.
Fortunately, for taxpayers and the hockey community, the fire was contained. Had it spread out from the Zamboni room or had the firefighters arrived a few minutes later, the chances the municipality would even be considering opening the facility a month after the incident would be slim to none. Rather, we could have been without an arena for months, if not years, depending on the damage and the necessary repairs.
So, although this hiatus is an inconvenience for many, it seems, the Jasper Volunteer Fire Brigade is deserving of the community’s thanks. Without their six minute response time, this hockey season could easily be a write off for all of Jasper’s teams.
And, goodness knows, like the rest of the hockey players in town, our firefighters would also be put out, as their own Fire on Ice tournament, which was scheduled for the weekend of Feb. 1, has now been postponed until the facility is again open for business.
Arena manager Peter Bridge—who’s hardly had a day off since the fire—said a Zamboni rental will arrive in Jasper on Friday and he hopes to have skaters back on the ice early next week.
Along with Jasper’s athletes, we look forward to that day.
