Two men suffer burns in highrise fire on Dawes Road
Posted December 8, 2011 4:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Two men are being treated in hospital for serious burns following a four-alarm fire at a highrise apartment building in East York.
The flames broke out on the 5th floor of the highrise, located at 500 Dawes Road near Victoria Park and St. Clair, at around 2 p.m.
Toronto Fire Captain Mike Strapko said the two victims were injured when flames broke out inside an elevator at the basement level.
“The key thing here was the fact that it was in an elevator, so the elevator shaft made it easier for smoke to migrate throughout the building,” he told 680News.
“At the top of the stairwell, there was no roof hatch, which is common in a lot of a highrises but unfortunately not in this one, so there was a bit of a challenge to try to get the smoke out that had migrated throughout the stairwell and the hallways.”
Strapko could not confirm if the injured men lived in the building, or were workers visiting the building.
A third person was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, while a fourth was taken to hospital for reasons which may have been unrelated to the fire. An additional three people at the scene were given oxygen.
“We were telling most people to stay in their apartments, protection in place with the door closed, and if it was a little smoky in your apartment, just go out on the balcony, but we did get a lot of 911 calls. A lot of people concerned, obviously,” Strapko said.
It took two dozen fire trucks and 90 firefighters to put out the flames and air out the highrise.
