The reopening of the areas affected by the fire that occurred last winter at the foot of the Olympic Stadium mast has been postponed until 2025, the site manager said on Friday.
Smoke had spread to the office and tower areas, as well as the stadium’s sports centre.
“At this point, unfortunately, the Olympic Park is unable to confirm a reopening of the affected areas for fall 2024. Experts estimate that a safe return would be possible in early 2025,” a press release states.
Desjardins, the Sigma-RH company and the Institut national du sport (INS) du Québec will therefore have to be patient before returning to their respective spaces.
“Decontamination and recommissioning of the central ventilation system […] “are proving to be highly complex,” the Olympic Park continued in its statement. “For obvious safety reasons, it is imperative to remove all contaminants related to the fire and completely eliminate the risk of dissemination across all cleaned and decontaminated areas before restarting.”
The Olympic Park was granted an envelope of 40 million by Quebec for decontamination and reconstruction work after the disaster.
The flames did not penetrate the stadium or its mast, but “significant damage” [ont été causés] due to the abundant infiltration of harmful smoke and the watering by the firefighters in order to extinguish the fire.
According to the Montreal Police Department’s (SPVM) arson unit, which was assigned the investigation into the fire, the fire was caused by “human action.”