Anxiety mounts as Tyne Valley Sports Centre closes again
More testing will be carried out
“If it can happen in Tyne Valley, it could happen at any rink across P.E.I. or across Canada.” Adam McLennan
TYNE VALLEY – Acting upon a recommendation from the province's Department of Environmental Health, the Tyne Valley Community Sport Centre board has shut down the facility again so that more air testing could be carried out.
The recommendation was made once the results of an extensive 90-minute air quality test carried out at the arena on Saturday afternoon were obtained.
Acting general manager Adam MacLennan said the results were still in the acceptable range, but were higher than the “passed” results obtained last month.
The arena was closed from Nov. 18 to 21 after several people who had used the facility on Nov. 17 showed up at hospital emergency rooms with respiratory issues, including coughs and headaches.
Extensive work was carried out on the furnace and ventilation system and the arena reopened after favourable air quality results were confirmed.
MacLennan said the latest tests for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrous oxides in the air were done in response to a recommendation from last month’s incident.
He said the arena has also been carrying out hourly air quality tests and monitoring wall-mounted monitors over the past four weeks and he said those test results have been good.
Provincial burner and boiler inspectors were in the arena on Tuesday and an engineer tested the ventilation system.
MacLennan said everything seemed to be working fine.
He said more air quality tests will be performed on Wednesday.
MacLennan notes the Tyne Valley rink has been subjected to more extensive air quality testing than other rinks in the province and he acknowledges it is because of last month’s incident.
“I get their point. I get that safety is always the number one priority,” he said.
He predicts other rinks will be facing more extensive testing in the future.
“If it can happen in Tyne Valley, it could happen at any rink across P.E.I. or across Canada.”
MacLennan is hoping the arena can re-open by Wednesday evening or on Thursday.
Tyne Valley books between 80 and 88 hours of ice rentals a week.