St. James rec centre damaged by fire

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This article was published 02/08/2018 (2833 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A steady stream of community members stopped by the boards of the Assiniboia West Recreation Centre’s outdoor hockey rink on Thursday, Aug. 2 to assess the damage following an early morning fire.

According to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, crews responded to the blaze at 861 Buchanan Blvd. at approximately 1 am on Thursday morning. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

Most of the damage was contained to the centre’s skate shack and storage area attached to the outdoor rinks — the community centre’s main building was unaffected aside from smoke.

Assiniboia West Recreation Association president Nicole Woelke says while the fire is disheartening “the show will go on.”

“We are fortunate that we have our second site over on Morgan Crescent, where we also have two rinks,” she said. “We just won’t have access to this particular space for, I assume, this entire season.”

The association runs a hockey, ringette and family skate programs during the winter that will likely be moved to its sister centre at 305 Morgan Cres.

The fire would have been more of a blow during the winter when all of the centre’s ice maintenance and hockey equipment is stored in the skate shack, according to Woelke. The club had also received funding for upgrades from the City of Winnipeg this year, but the renovations hadn’t started yet.

Woelke says she was grateful but not surprised by the outpouring of support from the community following the fire.

“So many people have sent emails and messages into our Facebook group and are sharing memories about what the club meant to them,” she said, adding that the plan is to rebuild the rinks. “We will regroup and go forward and make more memories.”

Blythe Kornovski lives a block away from Assiniboia West and saw that fire from her home at about 1:30 am.

“The flames were as high as the trees and we were in shock because we thought it was the club,” she said. “It’s very upsetting.”

Kornovski ‘s nine-year-old daughter Jordice Carriere plays hockey and practices at the outdoor rinks several times a week in the winter.

“It’s sad,” said Carriere, wiping away tears.

The community centre had just celebrated its 30th anniversary at the end of July.

The Assiniboia West rinks have been a gathering place for hockey lovers of all ages, according to Drake Barker who also lives in the neighbourhood.

“Everyone would come here and get together as a community, it didn’t matter how old you were we would all play hockey together,” Barker said. “It means everything.”