Fire crews battled a three-alarm fire for several hours in an abandoned building near Ryerson University on Wednesday night.
About 80 firefighters and 20 trucks were dispatched to the scene just before 7:30 p.m. on George Street near Dundas Street West to fight the fire in the boarded-up building.
Dennis Wubilla, a nieghbour, said he saw flames shooting into the sky.
"I couldn't even see anything except flame and smoke," Wubilla told CTV Toronto. "That was it; the place was covered in fire and smoke."
Fire crews said they were forced to battle the fire from outside of the building. Rain and heavy winds were hampering efforts to douse the flames.
"With buildings that have been boarded up for quite some time, we always have concerns especially if you don't have light," said Toronto Fire Division Commander Mike McCoy. "We have concerns for holes in the floor and for the safety of the firefighters."
Fire crews said that there was a report of people inside the building when the fire started but witnesses said the people left before crews arrived.
"We're not speculating that they started the fire or anything like that," McCoy said. "But it's quite common in a vacant building in the city that you get people inside."
Dundas was closed between Jarvis and Sherbourne streets for several hours and there have been no reports of injuries.
The building, believed to have been built in the mid-1880s, was once a home for destitute British boys. It was later one of the original Goodwill locations.
It has been abandoned for the past few years.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Scott Lightfoot
