I am a little late in posting this, but thought it might be of interest to fellow Axiomites, especially those with ties to "small town hockey". Cartwright is where i was born and raised until 18, though plans are in the works to move back there in the near future. Despite the sad story, some good has come of it:

Cartwright Rink Burns Down

This article shows the zamboni burnt to a crisp

Luckily this spring the rink committee had decided to increase the value of their insurance policy to cover replacement of the building. While some items will not be covered by insurance (equipment, jerseys, etc) deductible is only $2500 so minimal amount of local fundraising is required. Replacement is expected to be north of $2 million for the facility.

It was a pretty scary story though, the fire spread through the wooden roof from one end of the rink to the other in about 20 minutes. In two hours there was nothing left save for some twisted metal from the roof.

Wow! I hadn't heard about that. Being from rural Manitoba, I played a few games in that rink. I hope the new rink will be warmer.

Sounds like that one was pretty warm for a little bit.

You don't say?! Anyone else's ear perk up upon this tidbit?

I'm just thinking about those folks in CA.

It was very gray and overcast today. Lots of smoke on the horizon. This is always the worst time of year. Everything is dry from Summer and the Santa Ana winds are like rocket fuel for the fires. It was so windy this morning that the planes at the airport I pass on the way to work were taking off in the opposite direction. My work is located south of the Cajon Pass, which is the inlet through the mountains for the winds to come through, and the winds buffet us pretty hard. Seems like every major intersection I came across today greeted me with a wall of sand and dust. One of the guys I work with was 2 hours late because of fires shutting down traffic.

Hopefully this won't be a repeat of the fires we had a about five years ago. Very scary. Then, I remember driving home from work at night and the mountains surrounding the valley were glowing orange. Some of the lines of fire were clearly visible.

Yeah, we have 7 major fires going on in the So. part of the state right now. We had some friends up for the weekend that we had to plot their safest path home before they left this morning.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Those fires are scattered all over the place. I know the I-15 is shut down, but don't know about the other freeways.

Stay safe, guys.

Doc, you're just too suspicious. Of course I did, but suspicion is one of my professional requisites.

I just found out that my aunt and uncles house in san diego burned down today, But they were seperated for the time being so my aunt already moved out into an apartment... And I guess they had pretty good fire insurance so while it might be a pita I think they are probably going to get to build new house and have all brand new stuff etc..

Doesnt sound so bad. All their personal belongins were saved.

Glad to hear they made out ok. Earthquakes, fires, rising sea levels... and I still miss that state.

don't forget mudslides!

The occasional storm induced flood.

I remember seeing a t-shirt about the Redondo Beach pier many years ago that celebrated its fire, earthquake, and storm damage. As I recall, that all happened in the same year.