Several tenants of a downtown highrise have been forced out of their home for the night following a two-alarm fire that sent a man to hospital with serious injuries.
The blaze broke out on Tuesday around 2:45 p.m. at 650 Parliament St., just north of Wellesley Street. It has since been extinguished.
Toronto Fire Service, in a tweet, said that they were initially dispatched to the scene for reports of heavy smoke and fire inside an 18th-floor unit.
The service said that one occupant was transferred to hospital for further assessment.
Two dogs were also rescued from that unit and taken to a local veterinarian for evaluation and care.
Speaking to the media at the scene late Tuesday afternoon, District Chief Aurelio Centra said crews “encountered heavy smoke” and immediately requested a second alarm, which he said is the standard for fires in high-rise buildings in Toronto. He said that a total of 14 trucks were dispatched to this call.
“The crews assembled quickly, had the whole set up, and had the fire knocked down quickly, and patients removed,” said Centra, who also confirmed that firefighters located one person suffering from smoke inhalation.
That individual, he said, has been taken to the hospital for treatment.
Paramedics told CP24 that they transported an adult male to the hospital in serious condition caused by smoke inhalation.
Parliament Street was temporarily closed between Wellesley and Bloor streets, but has since reopened.
A number of residents of the building left their unit because of the fire, but have since been allowed to return to their home.
At this point, the only tenants who remain displaced are those on the 18th floor, Centra said.
Alice Vlasenko, above right, lives right next door to Apt. 1805, which caught fire Tuesday afternoon.
She told CTV News Toronto that she initially believed that the fire alarm she was hearing was just being tested as is done every week.
But, that wasn’t the case.
“The whole floor was covered in smoke,” said Vlasenko, who has lived at 650 Parliament St. for just under a year.
“The smoke was starting to burn my eyes when I left the apartment.”
Vlasenko said she’s fine, but will need to find a place to stay tonight.
“They will let us know when it is ok to return home safe, but I am afraid of the fumes at this point,” she said.
Mubarak, who has also lived in the building for about a year, said he heard the emergency alarm in his apartment and along with other tenants evacuated the building. He told CTV News Toronto that once he and other residents got to the ground level, they saw fire crews arriving there to put out a fire on the 18th floor.
An investigation is now underway to determine the cause, origin, and circumstances of the fire, which broke out at the same building that was the site of a massive six-alarm blaze in the summer of 2018.
An estimated 1,500 tenants were displaced as a result of that incident, which caused significant damage to the building's electrical system. Tenants didn’t start moving back in until 18 months later.
