Hundreds of people gathered at the Fernie Secondary School fields on Sunday afternoon to pay their respects to the three men who lost their lives in mid-October while attempting to make repairs at the Fernie Memorial Arena.

Sunday’s community memorial ceremony honoured 59-year-old Wayne Allan Hornquist of Fernie, 52-year-old Lloyd Stewart Smith of Fernie and 46-year-old Jason Donovan Podloski of Turner Valley, Alberta.

The three workers were killed on October 17 when a deadly anhydrous ammonia leak sprung from the arena’s cooling systems. The cause of the leak remains under investigation.