Firefighters heating up Port Arthur Curling Club ice this week

The ice at the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay, Ont.is heating up this week, as 11 rinks from across Canada compete for the Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship.

Play begins today, with the first draws starting at 3:30 p.m., markingthe start of the 59th edition of the bonspiel, which is hosted by the Canadian Firefighters Curling Association.

"We have a lot of world-class curlers that are going to be participating this week," said Philip Dzuba, co-convenor of the bonspiel. "And it's going to be a fun time, and there's going to be a lot of comaraderie."

"Firefighters have a tradition of brotherhood across the country," he said."Doesn't matter whether you're on the east coast or the west coast, we all do the same job, and we all respect each other."

Dzuba said all the teams playing in Thunder Bay this week went through provincial or territorial playdowns to earn their spot.

Thunder Bay represented

This year's Team Northern Ontario are all from Thunder Bay the rink is made up of Dzuba, Martin Hynna, Gordon Williams, Dan Jackson, and fifth Joe Marques.

Defending champions Team Alberta Aaron Bartling, Jim Henderson, A.J. Rankel,Cory Henderson, and director Trish Young will also be competing at Port Arthur Curling Club this week.

Dzuba said every Canadianprovince and territory except Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut, are represented.

And while the schedule is out, the draws aren't; Dzuba said those will be determined Saturday, before play starts.

"We have a ladder draw, we call it, to determine which teams are going to play each other," he said. "So what we have is one of our aerial platforms, and we'll have flags from each of the participating provinces and territories, and they'll be set into a certain order."

"As the aerial ladder goes up, people will know who they're playing in the draw."

Every curler is either a professional or volunteer firefighter, Dzuba said, and the bonspielalso raises funds for Muscular Dystrophy Canada ($125,000 was raised during the 2017 championship).

The championship game is scheduled for April 7.