Sylvan Lake Arena roof collapses with employee inside
Posted Jan 20, 2014 11:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
One employee managed to scramble to safety, without any injuries after the old Sylvan Lake Arena collapsed this morning with him inside.
It happened at approximately 1 o’clock Monday morning.
He was driving the Zamboni at the time and was assessed by EMS.
Communications Officer with the town of Sylvan Lake Joanne Gaudet tells 660News it’s still a very fluid situation around the facility.
“At this time, emergency services has closed access the adjacent streets and area,” she says. “And because we’ve also had to turn off gas and power to the old arena facility, the neighbouring Multiplex facility has also been closed to the public.”
They’re anticipating that could last two days as they try to get temporary lines to the surrounding buildings.
“And we are now working to assess the damage and how best to move forward as we prepare for demolition because it’s a full-structural damage,” says Gaudet.
It’s still unclear as to what could have caused the roof to collapse.
“The obvious could be snow accumulation but at this point we have no idea,” she says. “From where we stand on the road, it didn’t look like there was any accumulation, it looked like it had melted off.”
Capacity was in around 91% leaving the icepad booked almost full time.
Plans, she adds, may also be expedited for a new leisure centre which was supposed to be way-off into the future.
The collapse however brings the town down to one ice pad and leaves skaters now looking elsewhere for icetime.
Anyone with rentals is being asked to contact the town’s parks and rec facility.
There’s no word yet on when demolition might take place.
Employees are now working around the clock to come up with some sort of “plan B”.
An emergency crew is monitoring the situation out of fears of a further collapse.
She adds they’ve been very diligent about clearing snow from the Curling Club across the street, which was believed to be in the same kind of condition as the arena.
The curling rink is slated for permanent closure in the spring.
