4 dead after house fire near Gerrard and Coxwell

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of a three-alarm blaze at a home in the Upper Beaches that left four people dead early Friday morning.

Emergency crews were called to the scene on Gainsborough Road, near Gerrard Street and Coxwell Avenue, around 4:30 a.m.

Officials said the second floor of a home was fully engulfed in flames when crews arrived.

Toronto Fire said all four people who died were inside the home when the fire started. Two other people were taken to hospital, one in critical condition and the other is said to be in stable condition.

The ages and genders of the dead have not been released.

Deborah Bies, who lives down the street, said she babysat the six-year-old son of a single mother who lived in the home.

“We’re a really tight neighbourhood, everyone knows everyone, everyone’s very close,” said Bies.

“This is going to be beyond devastating. This is going to take a long time to heal, if it ever does.”

Fire crews at the scene of a fire on Gainsborough Road on Jan. 29, 2021. CITYNEWS/Bryan Carey

Initially, officials said some of the residents were able to get out of the home on their own and that one person escaped from a second floor window.

The fire spread to two neighbouring homes and caused extensive damage to the upper part of one of the house.

Magdalena Dion was one of the people who had to leave a neighbouring home.

She said she and her tenants were woken up by firefighters banging on the door, telling them to get out.

“It’s terrible, it’s terrible,” said Dion.

While battling the fire, one firefighter declared a mayday but was able to get out of the home and wasn’t injured. A second firefighter fell through the floor of the home and was taken to hospital with minor injuries. A third firefighter was also injured.

Fire Chief Matthew Pegg said crews also had to deal with overnight temperatures as low as -20 C.

“It makes an already difficult situation and circumstance even more challenging,” Pegg explained. “We’re always battling slips, trips and falls and then of course for the firefighters in the course of search and rescue and fire suppression operations, they’re soaking wet – they’re wet to the core and then immediately they’re freezing.”

Officials said all injured firefighters have been released from hospital and are doing OK.

The Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office has been called in to investigate the cause of the fire.

Jason Williams, an investigator with the OFM, said preliminary indications are that the fire is not suspicious in nature. He calls the deaths of four people “extremely rare” adding it raises several questions, including whether or not smoke detectors were present and working at the time of the fire.

“One of the main questions we always ask ourselves when dealing with a fatal fire incident is why the occupants do not get out. That is going to be one of the key questions we’re going to be asking during the course of this investigation.”

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report