Fire burns Assiniboia West Recreation Centre building

Winnipeg firefighters responded to an early morning fire at a community club in west Winnipeg.

The fire broke out at Assiniboia West Recreation Centre on Buchanan Boulevard just after 1 a.m.

There's no word on the cause of the blaze.

Miranda Cousins, who lives near the recreation centre and serves on its board, saidshe smelled smoke shortly after 1 a.m. and went outside to see flames at the building attached to the community centre rink.

"I'm upset mainly for the kids," she said. "Children should be able to play at the park and they should be able to run around freely."

Nicole Woelke, president of the AssiniboiaWest Recreation Association, said she's grateful nobody was hurt.

"I was disheartened that it happened, but it happened. And so now we've switched gears to how we're goingto move forward and what we're going to do," she said.

Registration for hockey had just opened, and ringetteregistration was set to start next week. The association will have to work out a way to accommodate those programs at itsnearby site on Morgan Crescent.

"While we do have Morgan site and it's not that far, it'sgoing to be a change for sure but only [for] this winter, we'll make sure of that," Woelke said.

Day camps in the main building on Buchanan have been suspended this week and the association is talking to groups that rent the facility to make alternative arrangements.

The main building of the recreation centre avoided any damage, but the building connecting the two skating rinks which was used as a community space during the summer and also contained change rooms and a storage areawas destroyed.

The community centre just celebrated its 31stanniversary.

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