Talk About Limited Access…

LATE THURSDAY NIGHT THE TORONTO, ONTARIO FIRE DEPARTMENT was faced with an unusual challenge. In the center of the city is an old, bohemian neighborhood known as Kensington Market. Along with its quirky culture it is also know for its very narrow streets with multiple dead-ends and a proliferation of century-old housing that was put up anywhere there was space.

It was one of those tucked away cottages that blossomed into flame the other night which generated some inventiveness from the Fire Dept. One of the homes clustered in the spaces behind the street lots came ablaze. It was vacant, having been unoccupied for nearly a year since an investor bought it.

The FD, being familiar with the neighborhood and also seeing the big orange glow, was able to eventually get close. The streets are so narrow that modern trucks barely fit between the parked cars and the city has built speed bumps throughout the area. When they got on the scene, their only access was by squeezing down narrow walkways between the other homes.

The delay in attacking the fire coupled with the serious exposure problem brought the response up to 3 alarms rapidly. Soon there were 75 firefighters onscene. And hardly anybody could see the fire building.

“So now you have this house that’s surrounded by other houses and you don’t have access to it, except for little laneways,” Capt. Adrian Ratushniak said. “It’s so difficult to get to this place. … You’d have to see it to believe it.”

One neighbor urged firefighters to run a hose through her home to reach the flames. Tina Pereux said she called 911 when flames erupted. “It was scary,” she said. “I called them and told them to go through.”

She said the shortest access to the fire meant having the fire hose go through her home. “I knew it was the only way they could do it,” Pereux said.

Soon two aerials were raised to reach over the other houses and knock the body of the fire down. Complicating the operation was a paucity of fire hydrants in that area. And yet, remarkably, the FD was able to prevent any spread beyond the building of origin.

“We used to have specialized trucks that could get into smaller neighborhoods,” noted Councilman Adam Vaughan, who represents the Trinity-Spadina ward. “But since amalgamation we’ve gone to one-size-fits-all solutions and it’s not the fire department’s fault. The trouble is that when an ambulance or a fire truck or a garbage truck tries to get in, one size does not fit all. This fire, in one of the most difficult spots to put a fire out, was put out very quickly with the loss of only one house and no lives. That’s a testimony to the expertise of the department.”

CityNews has a VIDEO.
CTV News has a good video that shows the hose paths HERE.
Wikipedia history of Kensington Market HERE.

Kensington Market Photo Gallery
Click on thumbnails for full pics

Update, Sept. 30: Toronto radio 640 is reporting that Toronto police have discovered a marijuana grow-op at the abandoned home in Kensington Market that went up in flames last week. The electrical wiring at the grow-op may have caused Thursday’s 3-alarm fire.

Police tell AM 640 Toronto Radio there was an electrical wiring network in the home with multiple extension cords. There was no hydro service at the property.

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