Toronto Fire Service Just Confirmed That Last Night's Fire At Old City Hall Was Not An Accident
Toronto Fire Services reveal that the "suspicious" fire at Old City Hall last night was set deliberately.
After an overnight investigation, Toronto Fire Service authorities are confirming that the "suspicious" fire at Old City Hall last night was deliberately set. Police have taken over the investigation.
Toronto Fire responded to a one-alarm level fire in the histroric civic building at around 8:00 PM last night. Emergency crews and firetrucks arrived on scene quickly, at the corner of Queen Street and Bay Street - just in time to prevent significant damage from the blaze. Toronto Fire says that "working sprinklers and a quick response by crews prevented a major fire" at Old City Hall.
Old City Hall Fire, will be investigated overnight... https://t.co/tyk0JQWMEB
— Toronto Fire Service (@Toronto_Fire) July 17, 2018
By 10:00 PM, the fire was fully extinguished. Thankfully, no injuries were reported. Authorities began searching the area for a cause, and Toronto Fire addressed the media with an update on the situation.
"We received a report for a fire alarm activation in this building,” Fire Chief Matthew Pegg told CP24 “Our crews arrived, there was nothing visible from outside and in accordance with normal protocol they made access into the building to check and very shortly after confirmed there was a working fire in the south-east corner of the building."
Yellow tape surrounds Old City Hall after a 1-alarm fire. No injuries but significant damage inside. @ChiefPeggTFS says this fire is NOW considered suspicious in nature. @CP24 pic.twitter.com/E1zdkCVlqd
— Leena Latafat (@LeenaCP24) July 17, 2018
Fire Services initially told the media that the incident seemed "suspicious" in nature. The fire was targeted to one specific region of the building, which was "predominantly office area." Various media have reported this morning that, after concluding their overnight investigation, Fire Services are certain that the fire was set on purpose.
The investigation remains ongoing, more details to come.