HIGH ACHIEVERS: Carleton Heights Curling Club plans to rebuild, reopen, after devastating fire

By Martin Cleary

On the first night of the 2025 club championships at the Carleton Heights Curling Club, Peter Garneau dropped by the Normandy Crescent ice venue in Ottawa’s west end to take in the action.

Garneau, who would become the club’s vice-president on May 1, enjoyed watching the club’s top players trade shots along with new president Kevin Ferguson on April 23.

Their conversation touched on a number of topics, including a successful 2024-25 curling season at the 70-year-old club, which has more than 450 members.

Recreational curling is the main focus at the Carleton Heights club, but occasionally a competitive team steps forward as it did in 2008, when Christian Tolusso, Emma Miskew, Ritchie Gillan and Stephanie Piper won the Ontario U21 mixed title and advanced to the Canadian championships.

“It’s ironic. I became the vice-president on May 1 and Kevin became president on May 1,” Garneau said in a phone interview this week. “We were at the club talking about what we hoped we could achieve. Things have gone well (this season). I do think that things were looking good.

“That may have been the kiss of death.”

Several hours later, about 90 minutes into April 24, the fire alarms went off inside the Carleton Heights club and 60 to 70 Ottawa firefighters descended on the club to deal with a raging fire.

It took two hours to calm the flames, but the extensive damage, smoke and soot tore at the hearts of the club members and the Ottawa curling community as the news spread later that day.

Garneau was shocked to learn about the fire, when he opened an email from Ferguson only hours after they had talked optimistically about the club’s current situation and the future.

“Walking into the club (after the fire), it was devastating. It was quite shocking,” said Garneau, who will rally with club members and the city’s curling community to rebuild and reopen hopefully as early as late October.

The fire, which was determined by Ottawa Fire Services to be accidental, started in the kitchen of the empty building. The second floor, which housed the kitchen, bar, lounge and offices, was completely destroyed.

As firefighters attacked the upper fire, water poured into the basement and flooded the curlers’ locker room.

The heat of the fire blew out the glass panels overlooking the four ice surfaces. Pieces of glass landed on the four sheets, allowing smoke and soot into the playing area. The curling season came to an abrupt end and the championships were placed in jeopardy.

Carleton Heights started as a two-rink outdoor club in 1956, became a two-rink indoor venue two years later and doubled its rink capacity to four sheets of ice in 1965.

Fortunately, the club’s ice-making equipment wasn’t damaged in the fire. Engineers determined there has been no major structural damage to the club. The club’s insurance company will cover the structural repairs and restoration of the building, which is being cleaned out and the walls will be taken down to the studs.

The club has started a GoFundMe campaign to cover the cost of replacing important operational items that were lost in the fire and not met by insurance. Its GoFundMe goal is to raise $100,000 over 100 days and $30,269 has been raised as of late Thursday afternoon.

Monies raised will go towards replacing damaged furniture, bar equipment, televisions and a wide assortment of kitchen items, including 125 meal place settings for accommodating large groups.

“It’s surprising the inventory list, shocking how much stuff was in the building,” Garneau added. “We’ve taken out what we can and hosed down items. But some of it isn’t salvageable.

“The upstairs is a total write-off. We took out the trophies. They’re not horrible, but they will need to be cleaned up.”

The club also will contact the Ottawa Valley Curling Association, Curling Ontario and Curling Canada to see if they offer financial assistance programs for clubs affected by a fire.

There are more than 40 curling clubs in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec and many have contacted Carleton Heights’ executives to offer assistance in whatever way possible. Current and past members also have stepped forward to aid the club.

Carleton Heights generally opens its doors for the curling season in mid September, but the 2025-26 season will be different.

“It depends on how the renovations go and if we can get the ice up and running as well as the locker rooms,” Garneau continued. “Then we can work on the upstairs. The emphasis will be on getting the ice back up.

“Our guess would be we’ll open by Halloween, but that’s not a (certainty). It’s all a guesstimate. We’ve been told it’s a mess, but not horrible.”

Garneau curled at the R.A. Centre for 24 years before moving to Carleton Heights, where his daughter entered the Little Rocks program. He also has been a youth coach at Carleton Heights and recently stepped down as the junior program co-ordinator after eight years.

“It’s fun curling in general and it’s a social sport,” he explained about his attraction to playing at Carleton Heights. “The people are friendly and welcoming. I showed up with my daughter and they said we’ll find you a team. We’ll do this and we’ll do that. They were very accepting.

“The curling community is very generous. We’ve had offers from clubs, asking ‘what do you need us to do?’ But I’m not surprised. That’s the type of community it is. They know what we are going through. The message from all the other clubs is ‘you’ll get through it.’”