BMX Ramp Fire at Wallace-Emerson Park

BMX Ramp Fire at Wallace-Emerson Park

Several BMX ramps and other structures were destroyed in a fire at Wallace-Emerson Park at Dupont and Dufferin in the west end a couple of weeks ago. So far, it doesn't look like they have determined whether the fire was arson or an accident, but it seems suspicious to me...

I first read about this fire over at Michael's Bloor-Lansdowne Blog, but more recently City News picked up the story and posted a video.

The Toronto Police have also posted a story on their website.

Ramps have been destroyed, and artwork has been lost to the fire, but there has been at least one positive outcome to this: The volunteers who built these ramps, lead by Michael Heaton, have already made plans to rebuild the park and have opened a trust fund to collect money for this.

Today at 2:30pm, Toronto Crime Stoppers will be presenting a cheque to help cover the costs.

Last year...

I Bike TO doesn't usually cover much of this type of cycling, but this park is a really cool space. I didn't even know it existed before I moved to the area. The BMX/skateboard ramps always seem busy in the summer, and there's also a great dirt track over in the west end of the park. I wish I had these types of facilities available to me when I was a kid, before my fear of breaking bones kicked in!

Cool things seem to happen when community members get together to make it happen.

For more info about the trust fund and rebuilding efforts, please check the City News and Toronto Police websites.

Fire photo by Michael Monastyrskyj, summer photo by Vic Gedris.