2 Toronto building fires like a ‘cigar burning slowly’ with no timeline to extinguish

Toronto Fire Services says residents of two Thorncliffe Park buildings will have to continue waiting before they can return home as work to battle the fire remains difficult, saying there remains “no timelines” on a return date.

In an update on Monday, Fire Chief Jim Jessop displayed a piece of “combustible particleboard” that he said is creating difficulty for crews to extinguish.

“(It) was placed between the expansion joint that is causing us the problem and access to getting to this is next to impossible for our crews and we have been trying everything,” he said. “If you can imagine a cigar burning slowly up and up without visible flames, this is what my staff have been dealing with.”

Jessop said his team has been working with multiple disciplinary engineers from Toronto Fire Services, Toronto Building and the complex’s owners to try to come up with “other ideas” to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible.

The fire broke out on Thursday afternoon with crews first called to a high-rise apartment building at 11 Thorncliffe Park Dr., where they found “light smoke” throughout multiple floors of the building.

It then spread to another adjacent building at 21 Overlea. Blvd.

A total of 378 units have been evacuated since the fire broke as a result of elevated carbon monoxide levels due to what Jessop called “incomplete combustion.” Crews had recorded readings of 850 parts per million, a life-threatening level.

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Toronto Fire said on Sunday that residents would be able to return after fire and building officials confirmed the property was structurally sound and air quality was safe.

On Monday, Jessop said he understood the difficulties residents were facing.

“The first thing I want to do is acknowledge and thank all of the displaced residents for their patience, their resilience and their understanding,” he said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to be dislocated and moved from your home in the middle of the night and put up in a hotel or be staying with family and friends, especially during this time of year.”

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Residents have been advised to work with their insurance providers to discuss how their individual policies can support them, according to officials.

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As of Monday, the Canadian Red Cross was supporting 141 households for a total of 293 individuals, with emergency supports extended to Thursday, according to the city’s executive director of emergency management Joanna Beaven-Desjardins.

Beaven-Desjardins told reporters that those numbers also represent 117 hotel rooms being used, adding that residents are also being provided with food, basic hygiene supplies and some transportation expenses provided by the Red Cross.

Jessop told reporters on Monday that as of that morning, while the fire continued to spread, it was not generating flames. Thermal imaging cameras weren’t picking up heat signatures.

Asked if there was the potential for part of the building to be demolished in order to get at the fire, Jessop said it has not been discussed nor contemplated. He said the difficulty to access where the fire is has been “very frustrating.”

He added that there would be “at minimum” a 24-hour period before Toronto Fire Services would permit residents to return once the fire is extinguished, but he added there was the potential that Toronto Building or the building owners may have other factors to consider before people can return home.

“Unfortunately, there is no timeline.”