Demolition to start at storage facility following fire
Posted January 11, 2012 3:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Demolition crews are beginning to pull down unstable masonry from the top of a concrete storage facility in the Junction area, Wednesday, following a fire which took almost 36 hours to be put out.
Fire crews remained on scene overnight, after the five-alarm fire gutted the four-storey storage facility in the city’s west end, destroying everything inside. Chunks continued to burn due to the contents of the storage units.
Light smoke continues to drift out of the windows, Wednesday, as insurance company engineer Kim Coulter told 680News crews need a plan.
“There’s still fire in the walls that’s smoldering. You can see it. It’s not safe for the fire marshal to go in,” he said.
“It’s complex, it’s dangerous. The only saving grace is that we’ve got great weather right now, and tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be really bad, so we’re kind of under the gun to try to get this done before everything freezes up,” he added.
Heavy equipment will be brought in Thursday to begin the demolition process Thursday. It will have to be controlled, tearing down small sections at a time so fire officials can investigate the cause of the fire.
“While we do the demolition, we’re mindful that we don’t disturb anything any more than is passable or necessary,” said division commander Mike McCoy. “In other words it’s not just a complete knock-the-building-down-and-sift-through-the-rubble. It’s going to be calculated, very deliberate.”
It will also need to be coordinated with CN Rail, as trains regularly roll by just steps from the building.
Nearby St. Josaphat Catholic School re-opened Wednesday. Students were moved to another school for Monday and Tuesday. The Toronto Catholic District School Board confirmed the clean-up and ventilation of the building is complete.
Crews – including the fire marshal – have been kept outside the building, as engineers have said it is still not safe to enter. As a result, they tackled any hot spots from the outside, using a hose to shoot a combination of foam and water through the windows.
A senior firefighter told 680News he expects crews will stay at the scene until Thursday, adding that it’s one of the most stubborn fires they have ever tackled.
Restoration crews were called in Monday night to demolish part of the building. Three cranes have been brought in to take down sections of the top floors of the building where bricks have crumbled and cracks have formed in the stucco.
There is hope that when the unsafe sections of the building have been taken down, fire fighters will be able to safely enter the building and extinguish the remaining hot spots.
“We’re putting water in from the exterior. It’s just stubborn. Where the fire is located now we just don’t have any good way to get at it,” said McCoy on Monday afternoon.
“We’ve got everything there from tires to appliances to chairs, furniture – that’s what’s burning.”
Engineers’ worries about the structure come after a firefighter fell through the concrete on the third floor to the second, Monday. Although he was able to walk out of the building, he was cautioned to go to hospital for observation.
“Typically, [in] firefighters’ fashion, he didn’t feel he needed to go, but we’ve insisted that he go just to cover the bases,” McCoy said.
Crews were first called to the scene at Save and Secure Self Storage at 97 Pehlam St., located in the Dupont Street and Dundas Street West area, at around 6:15 a.m. Monday.
The inside of the four-storey building was quickly destroyed by flames and thick smoke that poured out of shattered windows.
Originally, firemen were searching the building bit by bit to make sure the flames were completely out in each area, but had to exit after the structure became unsafe. Although there is a smoky smell in the area, the smoke and flames are no longer visible to passersby.
One nearby resident said the fire seemed to start slowly, but then spread.
“The stucco was starting to burn. All three floors were on fire,” he said.
Firefighters have been using Class ‘A’ foam – a wetting agent that helps to break down the surface tension of water and allows for deeper absorption by the burning materials.
GO train service on the Kitchener line was diverted until Monday afternoon, as fire hoses had to run across the train tracks.
There is no word on what caused the fire.
