Thorncliffe Park blaze caused ‘substantial damage’ to some units: chief

Residents affected by the Thorncliffe Park apartment fire are growing increasingly frustrated as there's no timeline for them to return. John Musselman reports.

A fire that burned in between the walls of Thorncliffe Park condo buildings for 17 days has left some units with “substantial damage” and it is unclear when hundreds of evacuated residents will be able to return to their homes, officials say.

Speaking at a news conference at city hall on Tuesday morning, Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop said all fire suppression operations have now ceased at the building after the blaze was extinguished earlier this week.

“Toronto Fire Services will maintain a presence at the property as we continue to support the ongoing efforts to prepare the site for re-occupancy, including the restoration of fire and life-safety systems,” Jessop said.

The blaze broke out on Nov. 27 at 11 Thorncliffe Park Dr. before spreading to an adjoining building at 21 Overlea Blvd.

More than 400 units were evacuated as a result of the fire.

“We recognize how difficult this situation has been, especially the time away from their homes. We sincerely appreciate their patience, resilience, and cooperation shown by the residents and the community,” the fire chief added.

Kamal Gogna, the City of Toronto’s interim chief building official and the executive director of Toronto Building, said the condos have now been turned back over to the property managers, who will bring in third-party engineers to assess the damage.

“There still is a great deal of work required to make the buildings safe for re-occupancy,” he said.

“Any materials compromised by fire and prolonged water exposure, including the fiber board between the two buildings, will need to be assessed by the professional engineers.”

Environmental remediation, including an assessment of smoke, moisture, and confirmation on acceptable indoor air quality, must also be completed before residents can return. Engineers will need to ensure the fire alarm systems, as well as the electrical and plumbing systems, are all functioning as they should.

City’s most ‘complex’ fire

Gogna said the city will review the engineering assessment before giving the all clear for re-occupancy.

“Not all units will be ready for occupancy at the same time,” he added.

Jessop said crews were forced to use a variety of firefighting methods to extinguish the stubborn blaze.

“This city has never had a fire this complex,” he said.

“We have never deployed a team of multi-disciplinary engineers in a separate command post to come up with new ideas to extinguish a fire that we could not see.”

He said firefighting tactics included using inert gases and helium to displace the oxygen and ultimately using a water-based foam “at a very high volume over several hours.”

“It really was a combination of all activities that led to the final, successful resolution of this incident,” Jessop noted.

The fire chief said that some units adjacent to the walls where the fire was burning sustained significant damage.

“There are absolutely units that adjoin this wall where we have cut into the walls, where we have drilled holes into the walls,” he said, noting that this was necessary to determine that the fire was completely out.

“There are certainly going to be units with substantial damage. That was required to make sure that we could now safely move forward to the next stage.”