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Orillia YMCA pool shut down after sound baffle falls from ceiling

Officials not sure when pool will reopen; 'We’re doing the best that we can,' GM says

One of the few swimming pools in Orillia is closed until further notice.

The YMCA on Peter Street closed its six-lane, 25-metre pool last Saturday morning after one of the sound baffles hanging from the ceiling fell into it.

The facility wasn’t yet open for the day and no one was in the pool area at the time.

“We needed to close the pool to determine the risk and what our next steps will be,” said Gilda Evely, general manager of the local YMCA.

The pool has been emptied and an outside company is being brought in to remove the more than 200 baffles, which hang from cables from the ceiling.

The panels have been in place since shortly after the facility opened in 1986.

How long the pool will be closed remains unclear, but Evely said the YMCA recognizes the urgency.

“We’re doing the best that we can,” she said.

Visitors have been “generally understanding when we explain the situation,” she added, “but, of course, nobody is happy when they have to shift their routine.”

Those with YMCA memberships can use the pools at any YMCA in Canada, and staff have been directing people to Gravenhurst and Barrie. Guest passes are also available for people who want to use those pools but don’t have memberships.

Evely said she hopes to have a better idea next week of when the pool might reopen.

The pool is used by the Orillia Channel Cats Swim Club. Head coach Meredith Thompson-Edwards posted a statement to the club’s Facebook page after learning of the closure.

“As a first step, I have looked into pool time at Gravenhurst YMCA and we will do what we can to at least keep our competitive swimmers in the pool over the next week (especially those preparing for upcoming competitions),” the post reads. “Since we have competitions fast approaching, the competitive levels: Sr Novice and up, require the most urgent pool time. The priority will be for those training groups initially. If we can get our Jr Novice and Channel Kittens in a pool we will. Otherwise we will add whatever pool time we have lost to the end of the session (assuming we are out one week of training).”

In a later post, she said, “No Jr Novice or Channel Kittens during the pool closure. We will make up time lost at the end of session 1 and into session 2 if required.”


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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