Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

WARWICK, R.I. - The facilities manager for the city-run Thayer Arena, which was closed after a Zamboni that was clearing the ice caught fire Monday, said the latest he expects to reopen the rink is Monday but he will know better later today once the cleaning crews come in.

The fire, which sent flames nearly 30 feet into the air, burned a 20-foot circle in the ice, which with all the soot and water, looked worse than it was, according to James Dorney, facilities manager for the arena, which has two rinks. The other rink, Warbuton, which is separated from Thayer, was not affected, Dorney said.

The fire occurred at around 5:28 p.m., about one hour after some 500 people attending a Rhode Island Saints October Fest hockey tournament had left the building, according to Battalion Chief Frank Colantonio.

Dorney said he expected the damage to the rink to be repaired in 48 hours but the bleachers must be cleaned of soot and the ceiling must be checked for structural damage by an engineer.

Dorney said that about 150 people, youths from the Warwick Junior Hockey Association and the Warwick Figure Skaters, will be affected by the closing of the rink. Tonight was supposed to be the start of instruction for the Warwick Junior Hockey League and it will be postponed about a week, he said.

Colantonio said the Zamboni was clearing the ice after the tournament when it caught fire. He said that that it appeared that the Zamboni caught fire after a hydraulic line broke on the machine. The man driving the Zamboni, Nick Denoncour, looked behind him to see the fire and jumped off the Zamboni, he said.

Colantonio said firefighters took down the fire and also cooled the ceiling so that flames from the Zamboni did not ignite it.

The rink is normally open from 2:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. during the week and from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the weekend, Dorney said.

(An earlier version of this report was published at 9:18 a.m.)

 Tags  Thayer rink Warwick RI

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