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Carleton Heights Curling Club has reopened after an accidental kitchen fire ravaged the building, almost burning it to the ground.
The club welcomed its members back into the freshly renovated space on Saturday, 18 months after an overnight blaze broke out in April 2025, devastating its curling community.
By the time emergency crews had extinguished the flames, there was burnt debris hanging from the ceiling, shattered glass scattered everywhere and pools of water flooding the basement.
While the ice shed was spared from the worst damage, current president Michael Gendron said the club was devastated.
“It was pretty clear that it was a much bigger fire than we had expected,” Gendron told CBC during the club’s official reopening.
While insurance covered structural repairs, the club raised $100,000 to refurbish the building.
The Carleton Heights Curling Club officially welcomed its members into its newly renovated space 18 months after a fire tore through the building. (Emma Weller/CBC News)
“This never would have happened without the thousands of hours of volunteer work that went into it,” Gendron said.
Renovations include a fresh bar and kitchen area, new change rooms and locally sourced artwork and materials.
“If you come here on a weeknight, you’re going to see people aged 75 to 25 all sitting around a table having a drink, laughing about the game they were just playing,” Gendron said.
Membership is up 25 per cent from before the fire, he said.
Displayed on the club’s sheet of ice is the new symbol of the Carleton Heights Curling Club. (Emma Weller/CBC News)‘Out of the ashes’
Home to about 500 members, the Carleton Heights Curling Club has been part of the city’s curling community since 1956.
Board member Judy Demillo has been part of the club for 20 years.
When she stepped inside the new space, it instantly felt like home.
“I don’t want anybody to have to go through what we went through,” she said. “Out of the ashes, like the phoenix, [we] rise above.”
Now, proudly displayed on the club’s sheet of ice is the new symbol of the Carleton Heights Curling Club — a phoenix emerging from a blazing curling stone.