Four firefighters have been injured while fighting a multi-alarm fire near the Ryerson University Campus in downtown Toronto this morning. Companies were sent to the six-alarm fire just after 0400 at one of Toronto’s busiest downtown areas. 2 of the TFD Firefighters slipped from the roof of a neighboring building and fell into the fire.
As many as 32 trucks and 125 firefighters were called to the scene early Monday morning. Five aerial towers were used to knock down on the blaze. Smoke was still coming from the building’s charred remains shortly before 8 a.m., said Toronto Fire Services Captain Mike Strapko. He said the fire is still being brought under control.
"We’ve got the upper hand now, so it’s just a matter of time," Strapko told ctvtoronto.ca.
"The building is structurally unsafe so we can’t go inside. There is going to be fire hiding in rooms or in ceiling and behind walls. We are going to be here for a while."
Fire officials sent out a mayday alert shortly after 5:30 a.m. when two firefighters slipped from the roof of a neighbouring building and fell into the blaze.
A rapid extraction team pulled the men from the fire and they were rushed to hospital.
A third firefighter was taken to hospital as a precaution, while a fourth firefighter who injured his hand refused to leave the scene and continued to fight the blaze.
Strapko said he expects they will be at the scene until at least the afternoon and that Yonge and Dundas will be closed through most of the day.
Strapko said firefighters have not entered the building because it has a history of being unsound. In April, the area was evacuated after a brick wall collapsed from the exterior of the same building.
The century-old building at the site that caught fire had recently been declared a heritage site.
The building had been left empty since the wall collapse. It was most recently home to the Salad King Thai restaurant.
