Local recreation facilities should be ready for emergencies

MARKHAM, Ontario, Oct. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ontario Recreation Facilities Association (ORFA) is welcoming leaders from Ontario’s recreation sector to ORFA Symposium 2026 on October 26 and 27 in Markham to start the conversation about the vital role of recreation facilities in emergency management planning.

When disaster strikes, local arenas and recreation centres often become the most important buildings in a community serving as evacuation centres, warming or cooling centres, or information hubs.

ORFA wants governments and communities to understand that investing in recreation infrastructure is also an investment in keeping people safe when disasters happen. These buildings, and the people who run them, often become essential services during a crisis.

As extreme weather events, including wildfires and flooding, become more common, many communities have firsthand experience in repurposing recreation infrastructure in an emergency:

• In summer 2026, many recreation facilities, such as Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay and Mountjoy Arena in Timmins, were set up as evacuation centres for people fleeing and returning home from wildfires across Northern Ontario.
• In March 2025, a severe ice storm hit central and eastern Ontario causing significant damage and generating approximately $11 million in unplanned costs for the City of Peterborough, including expenses for warming centres. Peterborough’s Director of Emergency & Risk Management, will present at the Symposium to share lessons learned on emergency preparedness.
  
  

Is your community’s local recreation facility ready for an emergency? In many cases, the answer is no. A building may be large enough to hold hundreds of people, but that doesn’t mean it will be ready to host evacuees.

Much of Ontario’s recreation infrastructure was not built with emergency management in mind. It is also aging with many facilities built more than 50 years ago and lacking amenities needed in an emergency. Can the facility keep the lights and heat on during a multi-day power outage? Can it provide safe indoor air during wildfire smoke or extreme heat? Are entrances and washrooms accessible? Is there a place to charge phones? Are there showers, toilets and places to prepare and refrigerate good? Are staff trained to convert an arena into an evacuation centre? These are critical questions for governments and communities to evaluate.

At ORFA’s Symposium 2026, Ontario’s recreation leaders will participate in education sessions that will help them answer these questions in their own communities. Session topics include extreme weather response, community event safety, digital risks of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, retrofitting community facilities for emergency response, post-pandemic lessons learned and more.

Program information is available on ORFA’s website.

For more information, contact: Jacqueline Demers, demers@redbrick.ca, 416-859-6250

The Ontario Recreation Facilities Association provides leadership in professional development, and in products and services for its members who operate and manage recreation facilities in municipalities, educational institutions, government agencies, First Nations communities and in the private recreation sector.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c79dbf67-1b07-4f02-92b1-cd4ee2fc3f8d

Fort William Gardens, Thunder Bay

In summer 2026, Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay was set up as a temporary evacuation site for people fleeing wildfires across Northern Ontario.