Work on restoring the Canada Games Centre has begun, and city council is looking to free up $5 million in cash for the repairs.

A motion to amend the city's capital budget by $5 million received first and second readings at Monday night's council meeting. Third reading will take place next Monday.

The money would come out of the city's reserves, but only temporarily.

"We are, at this time, expecting to be fully reimbursed by the insurance company,” Valerie Anderson, the city's finance manager, explained at a press conference this morning.

"Our plan is to continue to pay bills and to apply for reimbursement.”

The centre is covered by two insurance policies. One insures the building, valued at $65 million, and one holds the city over until the regular insurance kicks in.

The first policy has a $5,000 deductible, which the city does not expect to recover.

The exact cost of the damage from the June 24 blaze is not known at this point, Brian Crist, the city's director of operations said this morning, noting $5 million is a "holding figure”.

"That's our best guess estimate at this point,” he said. The number was determined by the insurance company and by Belfor Property Restoration, which the city has brought in for the cleanup.

"The full extent of the damage is yet to be known,” Crist said. "As we pull pieces off and get in to the actual damaged areas, that's when we'll know the true extent.”

The fire, deliberately set in a stack of speedskating pads in the ATCO Arena, reached temperatures of 1,030 degrees F and caused serious structural damage to the centre's west exterior wall.

"This damage was to some of the steel columns, much of the insulation, also the metal cladding on the outside of the building,” Crist said.

"It's a big job.”

An assessment of the structural damage and what to do about it is underway.

"Just how we do that is yet to be determined, but we are moving forward with the assessment,” Crist said.

"So as soon as possible, we will start to replace metal columns and cladding.” he said.

The facility's original contractor and structural engineer are still in the community, he added, and the city has been in contact with them.

In addition to the structural damage caused by the flames, thick black smoke spread soot throughout the centre, built to host the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

"There is literally soot from one end of the Games Centre to the other,” Crist said. "It's actually very heartbreaking to see.”

The soot is acidic, and the longer it sits on a surface, the more the surface deteriorates.

"Time is of the essence here,” Crist said. "The longer we wait to have the cleanup done, the more damage will result .... It's in everyone's interest that we move fast to clean up the centre.”

Crist called the centre's condition a "bona fide emergency situation in the city's viewpoint.”

The city's purchasing policy allows it to forego the tendering process in case of emergency, allowing it to hire Belfor to do the restoration without putting the contract up for tender.

"We did look around at other companies but Belfor rated right up there with the other companies that we looked at,” Crist said.

Marshall Oliver, Belfor's director of technical services, said this morning the company's work will include scrubbing the air and cleaning every surface of the building, from the structure to the interior of ducts.

"Every place that the soot went, we have to go there and remove that soot,” Oliver explained.

Belfor plans to use local supplies and services as much as possible, Oliver added.

When the cleaning will be completed remains unclear, however.

"There's lots to be determined still,” said Oliver. "It's early. But if we had to pick a time for you, my assessment would be that it's going to be between two and three months before the cleaning operation is completed.”

Staff are working with Belfor to find ways of potentially opening the facility up piece by piece. However, "particulate matter” remains a concern, said Art Manhire, the centre's indoor facilities manager.

The centre's closure is costing about $250,000 per month in lost revenue, said Manhire. The city's insurance will cover some of the loss, though there is a limit, Anderson said.

As for the businesses within the centre, the city's insurance covers the building, but the businesses will have to rely on their own insurance for things like lost revenue.

"We cover the actual space and they're responsible for covering the content,” said the city's finance manager.

While the centre's staff have all been affected by the blaze, none have been out of work, Manhire said, noting that they have been "redeployed” to help secure and ventilate the building.

Two teenaged girls have been charged with arson in connection with the fire and made court appearances last Thursday afternoon. Their youth prohibits the publication of their names.

Many community members have questioned the motivations of those who set the fire, Manhire said.

"To have this happen is a real shock to people,” he said. "It's a shock to us, it's a shock to the community.

"And people look for the whys .... It's not really the focus of where we're going. The anger is not going to get the building open; it's not going to get services back up; it's not going to pull the community back together.

"So we're really trying to focus on those positive pieces.”