A fire deliberately set at the Canada Games Centre on Friday evening has left the recreational building closed indefinitely.

Two minors were arrested in connection with the fire on Saturday and charged with arson, before being released to their parents. They will appear in youth court at a later date.

A third person was interviewed, but no charges were laid, RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Don Rogers told a news conference this morning.

The fire began at around 7:40 p.m. Friday in the ATCO arena at the games centre when a stack of foam and plastic pads used for speedskating were ignited.

The ice was removed from the arena for dry-floor activities in May. Youth programming was taking place in the arena at the time of the blaze.

Staff in the wellness centre overlooking the arena saw the flames come over the boards, immediately initiated the building's evacuation and called the fire department.

It's unclear how many people were in the building at the time of the blaze, but Friday evenings are a busy time for the facility. No one was injured.

Once ignited, the fire ate through three pallets of pads, climbing the centre's wall all the way to the ceiling.

Along the way, flames scorched the arena's scoreboard, melting it almost completely.

The metal wall behind the pads is twisted and warped, as is at least one steel support beam.

Concrete along the wall chipped from the heat, which fire chief Clive Sparks said today reached temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees F (538 C) in the arena.

The heat may have also melted insulation around the arena's high-voltage lighting, so the area remains dark until an assessment can be made.

A propane line along the wall was damaged but did not leak, and fibre optic cable for communications was split in the blaze.

"It's really depressing to see the facility in the condition it's in,” deputy mayor Doug Graham told this morning's press conference.

Damage to the facility is estimated to be in the millions of dollars.

"It was a very nasty fire in that it was foam and plastics that were burning,” said Sparks.

Toxic smoke spread quickly throughout the building.

Art Manhire, the centre's indoor facilities manager, said the smoke was so thick when he arrived on the scene at around 8 p.m. on Friday that he couldn't see more than three to five metres into the building.

"I drove up on Friday ... and felt like it was my home on fire,” Manhire said.

Damage was kept to a minimum, however, as the fire itself was contained within the arena.

Several heat-sensitive sprinkler heads were activated, both in the arena and on the second floor of the building around the wellness centre.

The dectectors are activated at temperatures of 130 degrees F.

The blaze was extinguished within 30 minutes.

Most of the work facing the 18 or so firefighters on the scene was removing smoke from the building as soon as possible, said Sparks.

"Because of its size and the way the building operates, there was a lot of avenues for the smoke to spread and the smoke took advantage of every one of those,” he said, adding there were no engineering flaws in the system.

Every door to the centre was open this morning for maximum ventilation, but metal fencing around the building and barricades around the property ensured access was limited.

A fine layer of black soot covered all surfaces in the centre today. The facility will have to be cleaned from top to bottom before it can be reopened, Manhire said.

The cleanup has already begun. The four to five inches of water which covered the surfaces of the ATCO and Northwestel arenas was removed by a vacuum truck Sunday and the hallway to the aquatic centre was cleaned.

Officials with the city's insurance company has been brought on site to view the damage.

"I think we're fairly well covered,” Graham said of the city's insurance on the building.

It is unclear how long assessment, repairs and cleaning will take.

The aquatic centre, however, was untouched by the blaze. It will reopen sometime this week, with the public accessing it from outside.

Programming at the building has been rescheduled for other facilities around town.

Day camps have been moved to Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre. Summer ice bookings will start as scheduled on July 11 at the Takhini Arena. Physioplus will reopen at Mt. McIntyre tomorrow.

Manhire does not believe there will be any additional costs associated with moving the programs.

The Canada Games Centre had 750,000 visits last year. Manhire and Sparks both said everyone from the staff to the fire department are working to ensure the facility reopens as soon as possible.

"It's a great shame that this building had to close,” said Sparks.

It was built in order for Whitehorse to host the 2007 Canada Winter Games.