Two-alarm fire at North York apartment building displaces 18 units, man arrested
Herbert Ward, 62, was charged with arson after a blaze tore through the ninth floor of a Toronto Community Housing building at 1420 Victoria Park Avenue, sending two elderly residents to hospital.
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A two-alarm fire that tore through the ninth floor of a Toronto Community Housing Corporation building at 1420 Victoria Park Avenue near O'Connor Drive and Eglinton Avenue East has led to an arrest. Toronto police say Herbert Ward, 62, of no fixed address, was charged with arson/fire or explosion/threatening the safety of another and three counts of disobeying a lawful order of the court.
First responders were called just before 2 a.m. on Thursday, July 9, to reports of a fire. Fire officials say they encountered black smoke in the hallway on the ninth floor, causing major damage to the corridor and displacing residents in approximately 18 units. Five people were treated at the scene, including two elderly women who were taken to hospital — one with serious but non-life threatening injuries and the other with minor injuries.
Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop praised the heroic efforts of first responders. "Seeing the conditions that the first responders attended to, their incredible work is the only reason we do not have multiple fatalities to report," Jessop said. "They performed heroically, getting up to the ninth floor, battling their way through pitch-black and heavy heat, evacuating seniors off the floor."
The fire destroyed the ninth floor, and those units will remain uninhabitable for a significant amount of time. A fire door separating the north and south towers held the fire and smoke back, preventing further spread. This is the second fire at the same TCHC building in recent days; a resident was killed in a separate blaze on June 28. Chief Jessop said there is nothing to indicate the two fires are connected.
