24-year-old driver dies after ‘horrific’ crash on Lake Shore Boulevard, police say

A fiery crash on Lake Shore Boulevard Wednesday night left a 24-year-old man in critical condition. (CTV News/Jacob Estrin)

A 24-year-old man has died after his vehicle crashed into a hydro pole Wednesday night and burst into flames, according to Toronto police.

Emergency crews were called to the area of Lake Shore Boulevard West and Colborne Lodge Drive, south of High Park, just before 8:50 p.m.

Duty Insp. Brian Maslowski told reporters at the scene that the vehicle was travelling eastbound on Lake Shore Boulevard at a high rate of speed when it hit a curb and collided with the post.

“At that point, a number of citizens came by and attempted to extract the driver from the motor vehicle. About a minute or two later, a large fire erupted,” he said.

Toronto firefighters moved quickly to put out the flames which engulfed the vehicle. Platoon Chief Tony Wallace said it took approximately 40 minutes to extricate the driver.

“We used just about every piece of equipment we had in the toolbox for this one…this was pretty horrific,” Wallace said, noting that the driver was trapped inside the car underneath the fallen hydro pole.

“I just started my 37th year and this is probably one of the worst (crashes) I’ve seen…Toronto Fire Services constantly trains all the time for situations like this, this just happens to be a little over the top from our usual type of call.”

The driver was rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition. In a release published Thursday afternoon, police confirmed the driver died.

Maslowski said Toronto Hydro attended the scene and roads have since reopened. He’s asking anyone who may have dash cam footage or witnessed the crash to contact police as an investigation gets underway.