Two Dead In ‘Suspicious’ North York Blaze
Posted May 17, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
While many worried about a history of Victoria Day long weekend tragedies on Ontario roads, Saturday brought one right at home, after a four-alarm blaze in North York claimed two lives and ravaged a townhouse complex in what police suspect might be a case of arson.
The blaze broke out before 6pm at 50 Green Belt Drive near Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East.
Two units were initially affected but the fire quickly spread to as many as eight other homes before crews could contain the flames. Firefighters struggled against the stubborn blaze, and needed reinforcements to eventually get things under control.
“We have about 130 people here and about 30 trucks,” confirmed Div. Commander Andrew Kostiuk.
Leszek Diadyk was working on his friend’s backyard across the street when the smoke first started to rise.
“I felt like people were dying in there, and what do you do? You’re helpless,” he said.
But Diadyk did make a difference, pulling a toddler away from the inferno in the nick of time.
“The little kid was running around, I think it was his house, he was trying to get back in there … we stopped him from dying, that’s for sure,” Diadyk said.
The unidentified female victim was found on the second floor of one of the units. A short time later police deemed the area a crime scene, though exactly why isn’t clear.
The second body was not found until Sunday afternoon.
“At this time we’re treating the fire as suspicious,” said Kostiuk.
Police later revealed that the toddler, his parents and his maternal grandmother lived in the destroyed apartment.
There’s no word on a cause and no damage estimate, but the Ontario Fire Marshal is investigating.
All photos in the gallery courtesy viewer Carlos Pena.
