A cat has been credited with waking its owner, alerting him to a next-door house fire in Parkdale early Wednesday morning. However, Domina is now nowhere to be found.

The fire broke out about 4 a.m. in a vacant unit of a semi-detached rooming house.

"I'm glad to be alive," Sean Conway told CTV Toronto after the fire.

He credited the cat, who awoke its owner, who in turn alerted Conway and others. "He said, 'Sean, the house is on fire. Get the hell out. so I just ran for it," Conway said.

The owner reportedly tossed Domina out a second-floor window, he said. "The flames were licking across from this house here right across his window. And the cat jumped on his bed, apparently, and woke him up," said Conway, a third-floor resident.

Fire officials say all five residents ran out the front of the 112 Spencer Ave. home, which wasn't necesssarily the safest route.

Capt. Mike Strapko said it's important that people have an escape plan in these situations.

Conway hopes that Domina has a return plan.

Damage is estimated to be around $700,000.

The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office is leading the investigation.

The fires come a day after a 63-year-old woman was killed in a townhouse fire in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood.

Five units suffered heavy smoke damage, estimated at around $400,000.

North York fire

Residents of a North York townhouse managed to escape after a fire broke out in their basement and quickly spread upstairs.

A police officer is being called a hero because he urged a man trapped on the second floor of the house to jump out the window. The officer was able to catch the man and bring him to safety.

The two-alarm blaze, in the Keele Street and Finch Avenue area, was quickly put under control by Toronto firefighters. Police say nobody was injured in the incident.

Witnesses reported seeing flames shoot out of a basement window on Four Winds Drive at around 9:30 a.m.

Water in the area was turned off after a pipe burst.

Neighbours were told to leave their homes as emergency crews battled the blaze. They kept warm inside a TTC bus that was shuttled to the scene to shelter the victims.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Dana Levenson