Residents displaced by stubborn fire at 2 Thorncliffe Park condos started heading home on Sunday evening

The City of Toronto has granted a partial occupancy permit to some of the residents displaced by the slow-burning fire that began 17 days ago.

Some tenants of one of two buildings impacted by a stubborn fire in Toronto’s Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood started returning home on Sunday evening, more than a month after being forced to relocate.

On Nov. 27, a five-alarm broke out at 11 Thorncliffe Park Dr. and spread to an adjoining building at 21 Overlea Blvd.

More than 400 units were evacuated as a result of the blaze, which Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop called “unprecedented” and described as the most complex fire the city has even seen.

The fire was unusual as it ignited in the walls between two towers and slowly burned a compressed wood material. It simmered for more than two weeks before being declared extinguished.

Property management firms then began working with third-party engineers to carry out full engineering assessments of the affected buildings. City officials are reviewing the findings before residents were given the all-clear to return to their home in a phased-in way.

Clearance given on Sunday for some units

On Sunday evening, building management advised some residents of 11 Thorncliffe that the City of Toronto issued a clearance certificate earlier that day, allowing them to begin heading home as of 6 p.m. today.

“We’re very discombobulated, living out of bags, and the unknows,” one resident heading home told CP24, adding the most frustrating part of this ordeal has been the lack of communication and updates provided to them.

“The bottom line is we’re happy to be back but we just wish things would have been dealt with a little more professionally.”

Her partner said regardless he’s just excited to return to home.

“At least we’re able to go home. That’s all that matters,” he said, adding they’re fortunate to live in a unit that is furthest away from the fire and was unaffected by it.

Residents who are being allowed to return home must do so under a “structured re-occupancy schedule.”

“This schedule has been carefully planned to ensure safety, maintain order, and comply with City requirements,” read the note, which requested cooperation from people living in the buildings.

16 units still not ready to be reoccupied

Sixteen units in the building remain part of an “exclusion zone” and are not ready to be reoccupied, management said in the memo. They are 303, 304, 403, 404, 503, 504, 603, 604, 703, 704, 803, 804, 903, 904, 1003, and 1004.

There is still no update on when the residents of 21 Overlea will be permitted to return home.