Historic Viking Carena goes up in flames

Little chance the building, opened by Foster Hewitt 50 years ago, can be salvaged

July 12, 2005 edition of The Weekly Review – The hockey rink that produced the likes of six Sutter NHL stars and Glen Sather has been gutted by fire.

The flames did their worst while many in the Town of Viking slept peacefully unaware of what was being lost. The fire took place between late Wednesday night, July 6 and early Thursday morning, July 7, of last week.

Word of the tragedy spread “like wildfire,” and many people ran out of their homes to look at the spectacle, staring while expressing sadness and some shed tears while watching the firefighters and police work to save the building.

In the end the corrugated roof and the lobby at the front end, along with the murals at the south end were still standing. But the ice arena area was completely engulfed in soot and fire. The fire did not spread to any other facility, but the adjacent youth centre suffered smoke damage.

The Carena had officially opened on July 9, 1952 with the help of famous NHL hockey announcer Foster Hewitt. It was called “the greatest day in the history of Viking,” at the 2003 50th anniversary celebrations.

The Carena’s name came about as the result of the car raffles, conceived by Laurie Rasmussen, used to raise the funds for the building.

Tom Paget of Kinsella won a naming contest for the new arena.

But all those years of memories came to an abrupt end with the fire, the cause of which was faulty electrical wiring. Many expect there will not be a hockey season in Viking this coming year due to the interior structural damage.

Crossed electrical wiring above the dressing rooms on the west side of the building is considered the cause of the blaze. The Carena was insured and this will help towards rebuilding.

The alarm went out Wednesday evening after two girls driving nearby noticed flames coming out of the back of the facility. Const. Kebby Cormier also phoned in the alarm about the same time at 11:45 and 11:50 p.m.

The girls, Megan Payne and Elise Naurenburg, both 20, were driving into town after visiting at a family farm last Wednesday night.

“It was flames coming out of the doors,” said Payne. “It was a wall of flame. It was just huge.”

Payne said: “That whole door was just flaring and that semi was parked right in front.” The semi was moved down the street.

“It was crazy,” added Naurenberg.

Viking Fire and Rescue, along with Kinsella and Bruce fire departments and Beaver County, quickly brought the flames under control.

The firefighters pulled the back doors apart, and ripped open panels to pour water inside. Side doors were opened and fans were used to vent the considerable smoke. The firefighters were inside to hose down the interior by around 1:15 a.m.

But it was obvious from all the black smoke pouring out from inside the arena that there was considerable interior smoke damage.

“It’s just a black hole,” said town CAO Rod Krips.

Viking mayor Garry Wolosinka praised the work of the firefighters, who were basically on the scene all night.

“The fire department did a tremendous job,” he said. “Nobody got hurt, and the building can (possibly) be repaired. It’s a temporary setback.”

The doors at the back of the Carena on the north side were pried open and water was sprayed on the outside walls of the corrugated steel siding.

Once the smoke had been cleared out of the front of the building, firefighters could see the lobby had escaped the flames.

The Sutter jerseys and other memorabilia were gathered, as were pictures from the old Gas Kings era, and are now in safekeeping at Mark and Linda Heisler’s for now. The arena’s gas powered Zamboni was also taken out safely.

New Viking Detachment NCO Jim Ross who only started his position the previous Saturday said: “I thought the fire department did a real good job in extinguishing the fire. It left me very impressed with their professionalism and their abilities.”

“This is a huge loss for the community,” said Beaver County Reeve and Viking area farmer Vern Hafso, while surveying the damage the next morning.

Hafso, Wolosinka, Krips, and Fire Chief Ken Ruzicka watched as the fire inspector and insurance adjustor toured the building to assess the damage and soundness of the building.

Hafso said it wasn’t just the townspeople who will suffer without the facility. Rural county residents use the facilities in town, too:

“It’s very unfortunate.

“We’re going to have to have minor hockey somewhere,” he said, naming some local towns in the area with rinks of their own.

“We’re in a location that can service a large area,” he said, and has attracted minor hockey players from surrounding communities.

The loss of hockey “will be devastating until we get something built.” He pledged the county would work with the town to accomplish the task: “We’ll all have to put our heads together to insure we have a building for Viking and surrounding areas.”

“This upcoming 2005 hockey season, I think we all know, is probably a wash for here,” said Wolosinka. “My opinion is there will be a hockey arena in 2006 and it will be better because the impact to the community is huge.”

He pointed out that, for up to six months of the year, “from late fall, and all through winter and early spring, that place (the Carena) is a beehive, the hub of the community.”

In fact, minor hockey enrollment had been on the rise, and was expected to be even higher this year. Plus, the local men’s hockey team, the Gas Kings, had made it to the finals.

He believed some workable arrangements for hockey playing could be worked out. “Fortunately, folks have got very good working relationships with some of the surrounding communities.”

In the meantime, Wolosinka and other officials fielded television and newspaper interviews.

The Celebratory Golf Tournament was held last weekend, just after the fire, and the Sutters were home and viewed the Carena, including Darryl Sutter, coach and general manager of the Calgary Flames, and his mother, Grace.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Grace Sutter in a television interview. “The boys played all their hockey here. It’s devastating.”

Meanwhile, people are starting to talk about the task of rebuilding, and the location of a new arena. Some favour an addition to the Multiplex on the town’s east side, while others say keep the original site downtown.

“We’ve lost a lot of our history already,” said one anonymous parent with kids in minor hockey. She said with the present location, kids can grab their equipment and walk to practice. An arena at the Multiplex would mean having to drive the kids.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t save what’s left. We still have the mural in front,” she said adding: “We’ve all spent countless hours there.”

“Once we receive official word from our insurance people, then we have to get the wheels in motion,” said Wolosinka. But he warned against doing a rush job just to have something in place for the upcoming season.

“Whatever is going to be done to the facility, it’s got to be done right. If we have to take a little more time, let’s do it to the best of the people’s ability,” he said.

“It’s a building, it’s got a lot of history in it. But we salvaged the Sutter hockey sweaters and old Gas Kings pictures,” he said. “It’s a temporary setback. Done properly, it can be a long-term benefit to the community.”

-Patricia Harcourt

Ron and Darryl Sutter speak out on the loss of the Carena

Ron Sutter a pro scout for the Calgary Flames, said the fire at the Carena was “like a big city losing its hockey franchise.” He feels very sorry for the kids, that was his first reaction upon hearing the news.

The Carena “was a major sports attraction for Viking,” he said. “It’s horrible (to see it gone) when your hockey rink is really the heartbeat of the town in the winter. It’s tough on a community.”

Ron was especially sad because all the banners that were hung in the rink area will now be gone. He really hopes that the hockey association will replace them.

He offered a memory of his own: “The last couple of years at Christmas we would bring the kids to play in the Carena.” He said he couldn’t believe the Carena won’t be there for this Christmas. In fact, his five-year-old son couldn’t even believe it, he said.

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Darryl Sutter, Coach and General Manager of the Calgary Flames, said his first reaction was one of shock.

“For us, it was like a church in town,” he said. “It wasn’t just about hockey, it was about growing up.”

He said, “All our memories growing up in town was with the Carena.”

He recalled the Carena as the centre of the town’s social life: “It was the hub.”

As a kid growing up, he lived on a farm where no other children could come out to play. So, when the Sutters went to town, all the town kids came to the Carena to socialize with them. He said he learned many life lessons while at the Carena.

-Nicole Madu