WATCH ABOVE: There are calls for action after an early morning fire claimed the lives of two people in the Kensington Market area. Angie Seth reports.
TORONTO – Two people are dead and 10 others were treated at hospital for smoke inhalation after a three-alarm blaze in the Kensington Market area of downtown Toronto.
The blaze began at a building on St. Andrew Street near Spadina and Dundas just before 2 a.m. and several people had to be rescued.
Among those taken to hospital for treatment were two children, a two-year-old and a four-year-old.
Toronto Fire says a woman and child were rescued from the blaze before they arrived by Toronto police and the woman was unconscious.
“The police had already pulled one person out before we arrived on scene and we just quickly used every available crew we had to get into building and get as many people out,” said Toronto Fire District Chief 33 James Green.
WATCH: Two people died after overnight fire in Kensington Market
“At this point, it was a relatively small fire and I’m afraid this tragedy was caused by smoke.”
Extra crews were called to help out as over 20 rooms were inside the building.
The structure has a restaurant on the first floor with several apartments on the two upper floors and in the basement.
Initial reports indicate the fire broke out on the second floor where there are rooming house units.
Downtown Toronto councillor Adam Vaughan says the city has a significant problem with these types of buildings and the owners who use them as one room apartments.
“We need the city to understand and colleagues in council to understand that there’s a loophole in the bylaw that allows for illegal rooming houses on commercial districts,” Vaughan told reporters outside the scene of the fire on Thursday.
“We need to regulate projects like this where you get 15 or 20 people living above a store. It’s unacceptable and profoundly dangerous.”
Smoke detectors were found inside but it’s not yet known if they were working.
The Fire Marshal has been called in to investigate.
-with a file from The Canadian Press
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