Firefighters battled a four-alarm blaze - and the extreme cold - at an auto wrecker in northeast Toronto on Monday.
The fire broke out at Standard Auto Wreckers on Sewells Road, south of Steeles Avenue East, early in the morning.
A Toronto Fire Services spokesman said three people were at the facility and they all escaped without injury.
Standard Auto Wreckers co-owner David Gold said emergency personnel were notified by a security guard who was monitoring surveillance video and noticed flames in a workshop and warehouse area.
Firefighters ran into difficulty because there were no hydrants nearby, Gold told CP24.
Firefighters had to use more than a dozen fire trucks to transport water from a hydrant about a kilometre away. They also had to endure the extreme cold.
The temperature dropped to -19 C while firefighters extinguished the flames, and the wind chill was a bone-numbing -30.
By 8:30 a.m., most of the fire was extinguished and crews were focusing on hot spots.
As a precaution, traffic on a nearby rail line was halted and Sewells Road was closed.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
With files from CP24 reporter Cam Woolley.
