Junction storage facility to be dismantled after fire

Toronto firefighters remained at the scene of a storage facility blaze in the Junction for the third-straight day Wednesday as a demolition crew plans to take apart the building piece-by-piece.

Firefighters continue to douse hot spots at the Save and Secure self-storage building at the corner of Pelham Avenue and Osler Street, near Dupont and Dundas streets.

The flames first erupted early Monday morning and escalated to five-alarm status. Firefighters were forced to evacuate the building twice during the response, including when a firefighter fell through a floor weakened by the intense heat.

Crews are finalizing a selective demolition plan to rip down the building in pieces so the fire marshal can get in to investigate what caused the blaze,” Kim Coulter of Coulter Building Consultants said Wednesday.

“[The building] will come down totally, eventually. But right now we have to do it selectively because there’s still a fire going on in the walls,” Coulter said.

“Once the fire marshal has done their investigation, then it will all come in.”

Demolition crews have already started removing chunks of the building near the roof that were deemed unsafe. Some floors inside have collapsed, putting a lot of pressure on the outer walls. Traffic on the nearby train tracks shaking the ground is also adding to the instability.

Toronto Fire officials plan to meet with engineers Wednesday to determine if the building needs to be ripped down completely. A full demolition may make it impossible to determine the cause of the massive and stubborn fire.

An early damage estimate on Tuesday was pegged at $1 million.

The evacuation order for St. Josaphat Catholic elementary school on Pelham Avenue has been lifted and classes resumed there Wednesday.

Did you lose something in the fire at Save and Secure storage? Or, do you know someone who did? We’d like to hear from you. Email us at torontoweb@citynews.ca, tweet us @CityNews or share your story with us here: http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/submit.

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