Electrical fire being investigated as possible cause of high-rise blaze in North York: OFM

Investigators say they are looking into an electrical issue which may have been the cause of a high-rise fire in North York.

Emergency crews responded to the scene around 6 a.m. at 4 Forest Laneway near Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue.

Toronto fire Chief Matthew Pegg said firefighters made their way up to a 20th floor unit and located two occupants inside. Both were taken to hospital in critical condition.

Officials said the building’s superintendent suffered smoke inhalation and was also transported to hospital.

READ MORE: 1 dead, 2 in critical condition in north-end Toronto Community Housing apartment fire

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“The fire was on the 20th floor. It places some additional challenges on our staff. They always work very hard but dealing with something 20 storeys above the ground is a real challenge,” Pegg said.

“We deploy resources in accordance with that risk. Any fire in a building like this, like the one we saw this morning, as soon as there’s an indication it’s a working fire, we’ll automatically go to a second alarm.”

Pegg said the building was inspected in January for fire code violations and none were found.

READ MORE: 1 dead after fire at high-rise in Toronto’s west end

An investigator from the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) said the fire started in the living room of the unit and that it doesn’t appear to be suspicious.

“We’re having an electric engineer come and check some of the electrical devices in the living room,” OFM Fire Investigator Jim Gillespie said.

Gillespie said the fire did not spread to the adjacent units.

“The superintendent of the building attempted to extinguish the fire,” Gillespie said. “I’m sure that probably mitigated the damage and then you’ve got the response by Toronto Fire as well.”

There’s no word yet on the estimated cost of the damages.