Marshal confirms arson in Heritage building fire
Posted February 7, 2011 4:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Ontario fire marshal’s office has said the fire at the old Empress Hotel at Yonge and Gould last month was arson.
Toronto police are still trying to identify a person of interest, using photos that were captured near the scene last month.
Detective David Love said the suspect was wearing jeans, a dark jacket with a hood, carrying a cream-coloured back pack and was acting suspicious.
“That’s the one person that was there before and after the fire and they’re going towards the building that was on fire.”
Two firefighters fell into the burning structure while battling the blaze and had to be pulled out by rescuers. Luckily, neither was seriously injured.
At the height of the six-alarm blaze, 32 fire trucks and 125 firefighters were on scene trying to save the empty building.
The building was so unstable, that firefighters were unable to conduct a primary search before it was demolished.
A section of Yonge Street was closed off for several days after the fire destroyed the 123-year-old building on Monday. The sidewalk on the west side of Yonge, as well as some businesses, were expected to re-open Thursday afternoon.
“In a perfect world, if we could get this thing done by the weekend, I would say that would be good,” Bryan Fischer with the Fire Marshal’s Office told 680News. “We’ll have to see how things unfold.”
Investigators are also looking into reports that squatters had been living inside the vacant building.
The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday that Ryerson wants to buy the land beneath the building.
The president told the paper that they would like to use the property as an additional entrance to the Dundas subway station.
The university has already bought the location of the former Sam the Record Man, where they plan to unveil a student centre shortly, and also plan to restore Maple Leaf Gardens in partnership with Loblaw.
