{"id":920817,"date":"2026-10-04T23:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T23:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/920817\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T23:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T23:04:15","slug":"ottawa-curling-club-reopens-18-months-after-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/920817\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa curling club reopens 18 months after fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Carleton Heights Curling Club has reopened after an accidental kitchen fire ravaged the building, almost burning it to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

While the ice shed was spared from the worst damage, current president Michael Gendron said the club was devastated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty clear that it was a much bigger fire than we had expected,\u201d Gendron told CBC during the club\u2019s official reopening.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While insurance covered structural repairs, the club raised $100,000 to refurbish the building.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 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)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis never would have happened without the thousands of hours of volunteer work that went into it,\u201d Gendron said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Renovations include a fresh bar and kitchen area, new change rooms and locally sourced artwork and materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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,\u201d Gendron said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Membership is up 25 per cent from before the fire, he said.<\/p>\n

\"DisplayedDisplayed on the club\u2019s sheet of ice is the new symbol of the Carleton Heights Curling Club. (Emma Weller\/CBC News)\u2018Out of the ashes\u2019<\/p>\n

Home to about 500 members, the Carleton Heights Curling Club has been part of the city\u2019s curling community since 1956.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Board member Judy Demillo has been part of the club for 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When she stepped inside the new space, it instantly felt like home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t want anybody to have to go through what we went through,\u201d she said. \u201cOut of the ashes, like the phoenix, [we] rise above.”<\/p>\n

Now, proudly displayed on the club\u2019s sheet of ice is the new symbol of the Carleton Heights Curling Club \u2014 a phoenix emerging from a blazing curling stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-920817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}