2 dead, 2 critically injured in Toronto apartment fire

ABOVE: Global’s Mark Carcasole brings us the latest details on the deadly overnight fire on Dovercourt Road

TORONTO – Two people are dead and two others are in critical condition following a residential fire in west-end Toronto overnight.

Fire officials received a 9-1-1 call just after 3 a.m. of smoke coming from an apartment on Dovercourt Road near Dupont Street.

Crews arrived to find four victims inside a second floor apartment and managed to pull them out.

Toronto EMS say one person was pronounced dead at the scene while the three others were taken to hospital in life-threatening condition. One of those taken to hospital, a woman, succumbed to her injuries while in hospital Friday afternoon.

Toronto Fire Services say the fire started in the “common area” of the second floor apartment, which housed a business at street level.

Carson T. Foster lives on the other side of the wall from where the fire started and was woken up just after 3 a.m. by his fire alarm. At first he thought it was just a broken fire alarm but saw smoke when he went out into the hallway.

He woke up his wife and went out to the fire escape to leave. The window pane from the apartment above fell beside him, blown out by the fire, as he was climbing onto the fire escape.

“So I ran up the fire escape and was banging on the door and yelling in and I had heard, literally 60 seconds before, people scrambling around to get out,” he said. “And as I was yelling there was absolutely no response. And I realized that the people, anyone inside, would either be unconscious or dead.”

He could see fire trucks coming down the street at that point and thought he would only be creating more problems for the first-responders.

WATCH: Witness recounts terrifying moments as neighbour’s home goes up in flames

The genders of the victims are unknown at this time but officials say they were possibly in their 20s.

Toronto Fire Services say a firefighter was injured but remained on duty.

A cat was also found deceased at the scene of the fire.

There’s no word yet on the cause.

The Ontario Fire Marshal has been brought in to investigate.

-with a file from The Canadian Press