Three die after fire at apartments

Blaze hits Toronto seniors’ building

TORONTO — Three people died and 15 were being treated in hospital for injuries after a fire at a seniors’ building in Toronto on Friday.

Paramedic spokesman Peter Rotolo said four people were taken to hospital in critical condition after the afternoon blaze, three of whom were pronounced dead.

Rotolo said paramedics and firefighters pulled residents from apartments on the top floor of the five-storey building.

Some of the seniors had to be brought to safety down ladders because the hallways were too full of smoke, a fire service spokesman said.

Division commander Bob O’Halloran said the origin of the fire remained under investigation.

However, O’Halloran noted that much of the damage appeared to have occurred in a fifth-floor hallway.

O’Halloran said most residents were moved from the fifth floor but people in two apartments were “sheltering in place.”

“There are two people on the fifth floor, two apartments that it was better to shelter them in place than bring them out through the smoke,” he said.

“They’re being checked on from time to time — they’re OK.”

O’Halloran said there were challenges for firefighters in getting people out of the apartments. “You knock on doors and sometimes people don’t hear you, don’t answer their door,” he said. “If we don’t have keys, we have to force the doors to make sure people are out of there. “We forced quite a few doors.” Residents of the complex were allowed to return to apartments on the first four floors.