A building that houses a rug store in Etobicoke’s Kingsway neighbourhood is believed to be a complete loss following a three-alarm blaze early Sunday morning.
The blaze broke out at Kingsway Persian Rugs on Dundas Street west of Prince Edward Drive just before 5 a.m.
Toronto Fire says that they were first dispatched to the area for reports of smoke in a second floor apartment. They then encountered flames coming from the east side of the building upon arrival.
At one point the call was upgraded to a four-alarm response after a firefighter went missing but was quickly downgraded once the issue was resolved.
“We transitioned from an aggressive interior attack to a defensive attack and as crews were making their way out we had one firefighter that lost his way,” Division Commander Len Stadler told CP24 at the scene. “He called a mayday but was able to self-evacuate himself and he is fine.”
Stadler said that crews were probably on scene for about 45 minutes until conditions became too dangerous to battle the fire from the interior of the building.
He said several aerial units were then deployed so that firefighters could dump water on the blaze from above.
By 9:30 a.m. thre fire was mostly out, though Stadler said that crews would likely remain on scene for the remainder of the day dealing with hot spots.
The cause of the fire remains uncelar.
“We have notified the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal and at this point we are waiting on direction from them,” Stadler said.
