The Ontario Fire Marshal will be launching an investigation after a four-alarm blaze ripped through a mixed-used building in Toronto’s Little Italy neighbourhood overnight.

Fire crews responded to the blaze at a commercial and residential building at 615 College Street, near Clinton Street, shortly before 1 a.m on Friday.

The three-storey building has a restaurant on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors.

Toronto fire says crews were met with heavy smoke and flames coming from the rear of the building and through the roof.

“We think it possibly might have started near the rear of the building and with prevailing wind last night all the heat and smoke pushed inside the building. So we'll know further after the investigators are here,” Platoon Chief Tim Algar said at the scene Friday morning.

The fire escalated to a four-alarm situation and between 100 and 120 firefighters, and 30 trucks attended the scene at the peak of the blaze.

A neighbour said he saw flames billowing from the roof of the building.

“When I came out I looked up and the flames were like all the way up to the roof, so it’d been going on for a little while,” Liam Murray said.

“Overall, the flames were right up through the back all the way through and you couldn’t really tell how many buildings it was impacting. You could see the main one but it kind of kept on looking like it was spreading just cause of the wind.”

College street fire

Crews attacked the blaze from all angles and were able to gain control two hours later at around 3 a.m.

Fortunately, no injuries to occupants or firefighters were reported.

Toronto Fire Chief Mattew Pegg thanked crews for their fast action in putting out the blaze.

“Thank you to our Toronto Fire crews for their hard work in battling the challenging 4th alarm fire on College street. Most importantly, there are no reported injuries. The investigation into the origin, cause and circumstances of the fire will commence today,” Pegg tweeted Friday morning.

Algar says the fire caused substantial damage to two adjoining units on the upper floor.

“Down in the lower ones (units) is not too bad. A little bit of smoke, lots of water. Upstairs, it is totally devastated in the inside on the upper floors. We’re back to bare wood, there's a lot of damage on the upper floors.”

Toronto fire says they are working to temporarily rehouse the affected occupants.

college street fire

The owner of Tut’s Egyptian Street Food, which is located on the ground floor of the building, said his restaurant sustained mostly water damage.

“I think the damage is coming from the residential units above us. So there’s no fire (damage) inside but there’s now water damage. The fire marshal took down the ceiling, there’s a lot of water damage,” Amr Elmazariky.

“Very sad. It’s a new branch. We were looking forward to being open in the summer,” he added.