A male is in critical condition after being pulled from a fire at a high-rise in the city’s High Park North neighbourhood.
The fire broke out at a building on Mountview Avenue near Bloor and Keele streets shortly before 10 a.m.
The blaze was upgraded to a second-alarm a short time later.
Toronto Fire said crews encountered heavy smoke in the 11th floor hallway and much of it had migrated throughout the building’s stairwells.
At some point, firefighters forced opened a door to a unit on the 11th floor where they found a male in life-threatening condition.
“He was immediately rescued from the suite, (administered) initial patient care and very quickly transferred to the care of our colleagues at Toronto Paramedics Services,” Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg told reporters from the scene.
“The latest update I have is that he’s being described as being in critical condition and we’re awaiting further updates and further patient condition reports from the hospital.”
Pegg said the fire was declared under control sometime after 11 a.m.
The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal has been notified of the incident and will visit the building sometime today, Pegg said.
The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.
“There’s been no indication as to origin or cause,” Pegg said. “It will be some time before we have any indication and we’ll do a full investigation into origin, cause and circumstance of the fire but at this point it’s far too early to even speculate.”
Pegg added that firefighters encountered an issue with elevators in the building and were forced to use a stairwell at some point. He said investigators will also look into the condition of the building at the time of the fire.
“There have been no injuries to any of our firefighters here and our thoughts are with the patient and certainly were hoping for some good news from Toronto General Hospital shortly,” he said.
