BREAKING NEWS:

The Village of Burns Lake regrets to inform residents that the Tom Forsyth Memorial Arena and the curling rink will not be available for ice sports for the foreseeable future due to a significant mechanical failure of the chiller component of the ice plant. We cannot make ice.  There will be a significant delay to the start of the hockey, skating and curling seasons due to lead time on the replacement and installation of a new chiller. It is estimated that this work may not be completed until early 2024.

What Happened?

• On Monday, August 21^st, the arena plant was started without issues and staff began to build the ice surface.
• On Friday, August 25^th, it was determined that the arena chiller had suffered a critical failure. The plant was shut down due to a Freon refrigerant leak inside the chiller. It is suspected that an internal defect is the cause of this failure.
• The ice plant cannot operate in its current state, and the chiller will need to be replaced; this is a specialized piece of equipment, custom built for our plant, and takes time to build.
• The chiller was last replaced in 2016 with the rest of the plant when it was converted to a Freon plant; the expected replacement timeline of this equipment is generally over 15-20 years.

What now?

• Ice sport bookings & programs in the arena and curling rink are cancelled until repairs are completed.
• Staff are working diligently with a refrigeration contractor to ensure the replacement is completed as quickly as possible.
• Estimated timeline for repairs to be completed and ice to be ready is early 2024 (subject to change. We will keep the public informed of the progress of repairs).
• Recreation staff will be scheduling dry-floor activities, and dry-floor bookings in the arena and curling rink will be available until the ice can go back in.