‘So chaotic’: No return date for displaced residents of 2 Toronto building fires

Toronto Fire crews remained on scene Saturday afternoon as a complex highrise fire at Thorncliffe Park Dr. and Overlea Blvd. continued to burn behind walls, with officials still unable to give residents a timeline for when they can go home.

Toronto Fire said they have made “positive” progress, but the blaze remains extremely difficult to access.

Acting Division Commander Robert Houston said firefighters have been “actively fighting a stubborn fire” for more than 48 hours and that early in the response they discovered “high levels of carbon monoxide throughout the building.”

All 408 units across the two towers were evacuated. No injuries have been reported.

The Red Cross is providing emergency assistance, delivering accommodations and food for 117 households and 239 people as of Saturday morning.

Officials said residents were moved from an initial hub into hotels.

One of those displaced is single mother Mohamee Muhammad, now staying with her daughter at a hotel in the Don Valley.

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They have been provided a card to buy meals but only have guaranteed accommodation until Dec. 2.

“You have to take it one day at a time,” Muhammad told Global News.

Her daughter Aisha learned about the fire from her school principal.

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“I just hope we can go home back soon,” she said, adding the experience is deeply disruptive. “I wasn’t expecting this. I just thought it would be a normal day until I got the call.” She was permitted to briefly enter to retrieve her school supplies.

Another resident, Nihal Sheikh, said his wife called him while he was at work to say the building was being evacuated. They have a two-month-old and two other young children.

“Things happened suddenly,” he said. “It was so chaotic.”

He said responders escorted him upstairs to retrieve medications and diapers. “We don’t know what’s going on… we are just getting updates from fire department and police.”

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Houston said temperatures and carbon monoxide levels have “successfully lowered,” but crews still “do not have eyes on the fire… just behind walls,” relying instead on heat readings and air monitoring.

He confirmed “there is no timeline” for when residents can return. “We just can’t see. We’re in the middle of trying to mitigate the situation.”

Earlier on Friday, Fire Chief Jim Jessop said the blaze is being fuelled by insulation burning “slowly” between the walls of both towers, creating “high levels of carbon monoxide” due to “incomplete combustion.” Crews had recorded readings of 850 parts per million, a life-threatening level.

Jessop said he expects it to be a “prolonged event,” with no estimate on when it will be brought under control. Once it is, it will still take firefighters another 24 hours to ensure there are no flare-ups.

Crews were first called around 1:30 p.m. Thursday to reports of “light smoke” on multiple floors at 11 Thorncliffe Park Dr., before the fire spread into the adjacent building at 21 Overlea Blvd.

City officials thanked emergency responders and urged any remaining displaced residents to contact the Red Cross, saying, “The most important thing is that everybody in this community is safe.”

– With files from Gabby Rodriguez