Fire Marshal Dennis Spritzer told 7NEWS that the broken damper motor prevented fresh air from entering the Jorgenson Park ice rink Sunday.

He also said the ice scraping machine was burning fuel inefficiently and that that contributed to the mass carbon monoxide poisoning of hockey players and fans.

More than 80 were treated at hospitals in Gunnison, Craig and Denver.

Several parents said they were surprised to learn that carbon monoxide detectors were not installed in the ice rink.

Spritzer said state law requires that detectors be installed in new homes, homes that are resold and in apartments, but they are not required in commercial buildings.

The chief sponsor of the state’s carbon monoxide law, state Representative John Soper, D-Adams County, said most carbon monoxide deaths occur when people are asleep.

“That’s why the focus was on homes,” Soper said.

But with the mass poisoning in Gunnison and a similar incident at an ice rink in Greeley, some parents say ice rinks should be included in the law.

“I think there should be some kind of detector in a place like that,” said Eric Guttormson, coach of the Colorado Junior Eagles hockey team.

Guttormson’s daughter MacKenzie was one of the victims who had to be treated in a hyperbaric chamber at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver.

Soper said he hasn’t been approached by any parents, but said he would consider sponsoring a change in the legislation, if there was a big push for it.

“It would be too late this session,” he said, “because you’d have to have late bill status.”

Soper also said that it would be difficult to mandate that change in this economic climate.

“Everybody’s under an economic crunch,” Soper said. “But what price do you put on somebody’s life?”

Several area firefighters told 7NEWS that they would support an effort to change the law.

"Anytime we can prevent that type of injury we're in favor of anything that would support that," said Mark Schuman, who works as a battalion chief in the North Washington fire district.

Spritzer said that after the incident at Jorgenson Park, Gunnison will install carbon monoxide detectors in the ice rink.

“We’ll tie them into the fire alarm system,” he said.

The fire marshal also said that the damper motor will be repaired or replaced, and that the ice scraping machine will receive a tune-up so it burns fuel more efficiently.

He said the ice rink will remain closed until the repairs are made.