Fire at east-end apartment elevator sends 4 to hospital

  CityNews

Fire fighters battle a blaze on Dawes road on Dec. 8, 2011

Four people are in hospital after a fire broke out in one of the elevator shafts at an apartment in the city’s east end.

Toronto EMS told CityNews that two people with serious burns were sent to Sunnybrook hospital, and another two were sent to a local-area hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

"We've had a fire in an elevator," Toronto Fire division commander Lorne Buckingham told CityNews.

"It's like a big tunnel all the way from the basement right up to the top....Heavy smoke spread quickly spread throughout the building. It blackened every floor. Although the fire itself was minor, the smoke was a mess."

The four-alarm fire is now out, Buckingham said, but there were possibly more people inside the building who need to be treated. Buckingham said crews would be going floor-by-floor to look for people who may be injured.

Twenty-five trucks and nearly 80 firefighters responded to the fire, which began around 2:15 p.m. Thursday at 500 Dawes Rd., just south of Victoria Park and St. Clair avenues.

CityNews has learned that two maintenance employees were working in the elevator when an explosion, possibly from a torch or propane tank, occurred.

Resident Alex Mendelson, who pulled the alarm and called 911 told CityNews, "There was Jack, our maintenance man, and the new super[intendent], and they were burned, really, really badly burned."

Michael Wise, who lives next to the building, told CityNews that smoke billowed from the apartment roof, and described the odour as "electrical."

"There’s a lot of people outside without coats and shoes on, standing, looking at the building, holding each other crying — stuff like that. I haven’t seen this much excitement in a long time."