Historic Stretch Of Queen West Destroyed By Massive Fire

A historic section of the downtown has been reduced to smoking rubble following a massive six-alarm fire. The blaze ravaged a stretch of Queen St. West on Wednesday, destroying century-old buildings in what some are calling a tragedy for the city of Toronto. Duke's Cycle among the businesses affected.Firefighters descended on the Queen and Portland area east of Bathurst just after 5am, immediately rescuing area residents from their apartments above local businesses. Flames and heavy smoke poured from the buildings as crews tried to get the upper hand in a very stubborn blaze that quickly climbed in status from a two-alarmer to a six-alarm fire.

Heavy winds only made the situation worse for the 30 trucks and close to 150 firefighters on scene, as the blaze spread to buildings up and down the south side of Queen St. Plumes of smoke wafted across the city and could be smelled from one end of the downtown to the other. Incredibly, there were no major injuries.


Fire crews took a defensive position outside the building in the early hours as they tried in vain to prevent the flames from spreading. At its height, the fire spread to four or five other structures through the rooftops and it was believed at least 14 area addresses were affected. A portion of one building, home to long-running family business Duke's Cycle, buckled and collapsed at about 7:30am, and there were concerns another, a red brick building housing Suspect Video, might crumble and fall.

"The fire gets so rapid in there and, you know, the building came down. Timbers let go, and the building collapsed. We have a building behind us right now, and the wall ready to go. As you can see, buildings very unstable," said Toronto Fire Chief Bill Stewart at the scene.

Adding to the challenges for firefighters, the frigid temperatures, which turned water-covered streets and sidewalks into a skating rink, while ash-covered icicles hung from power lines and rooftops.


Crews managed to get most of the fire under control by about 9:30am and at noon they were putting out the remaining hotspots.

"We have conditions here, we have extreme ice," Stewart noted. "Behind us in the laneway, it's extremely slippery. There's the hard packed ice back here, and firefighting crews are using operational hand lines and aerial back in there."


Firefighters evacuated people from the entire block, and many were keeping warm in nearby restaurants and TTC buses brought in to aid those who'd lost everything.

Earlier reports that a drug lab might have been operating out of one of the buildings were later refuted by one fire official who said they hadn't found any evidence of one.

Queen streetcars were diverting around the area due to power outages and safety concerns.

Many of the gutted buildings were built at the turn of the century, and had recently been declared a heritage conservation district. City Councillor Adam Vaughan called the fire a tragedy for Toronto.

"It's a tragedy in so many levels. The Duke's Cycle that had been here for four generations is gone. The building is gone. I bumped in one of the brothers, and they're in shock," he said. "But you know, the residents above the stores, and the stores, and we just had the area declared a heritage conservation district. On a host of levels, it's a bloody tragedy.

"It punches a hole in the heart of Queen St."

Mayor David Miller said the thoughts of Torontonians were with the people affected.

"The thoughts of all Torontonians are with the residents and businesses in the historic area of Queen and Bathurst Streets who lost property in this morning's large fire," he said.

"I want to thank and commend the brave and dedicated women and men of the Toronto Fire Service, more than 130 members of which responded to the call early this morning and did an extraordinary and heroic job of rescuing trapped residents and getting the fire under control in incredibly challenging circumstances."


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