A woman in her 30s was left with critical injuries and three others were hurt after a two-alarm fire in Toronto’s west end early Saturday, officials say.
Ontario fire marshal investigator Michael Bird told Global News crews were called to the area of Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue shortly after 2:30 a.m. for reports of a structure fire.
Bird said a woman suffering from critical injuries was rescued from the basement of a building and was rushed to hospital.
Toronto paramedics confirmed to Global News a woman in her 30s was transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Bird said she had third-degree burns to nearly 50 per cent of her body.
Bird said when crews arrived at the scene, they also located two other people standing on a roof overhang outside of a second-storey window.
“One actually jumped off of it, the other one was taken down by ladder,” Bird said.
He said those two victims were treated for minor injuries.
Global News has obtained cellphone video appearing to show the moment one of those victims was rescued from the building.
Thick black smoke could be seen billowing out of a second-storey window as firefighters rescued a man from the roof with a ladder.
“The call was actually made by one of the basement tenants who had escaped from the fire in the basement with burn injuries and had gone to the local bar two doors down and had them call 911,” Bird said, later adding it’s believed the fire started in the basement.
He said the man who made the call was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
It appears the building had working smoke alarms on the top floor, but it is unclear if there were any working alarms in the basement, Bird said.
The fire occurred in a mixed-use building, with apartment units on the bottom and top floors and a commercial space on the ground level.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.