Fire in The Beaches destroys home, spreads to electric vehicle

Toronto Fire will be investigating the cause of a “stubborn” three-alarm fire that gutted a Beaches home early Friday morning.

The fire broke out at around 3:40 a.m. at a home on Kippendavie Avenue, near Queen Street East and Woodbine Avenue.

“Upon arrival, they (firefighters) were met with heavy flame and smoke,” Deputy Chief Jim Jessop told reporters at the scene, adding the flames spread into parts of the roof that were difficult to access.

Before crews even arrived on scene, the fire had spread to an electric vehicle in front of the home and two adjacent houses, Jessop noted.

Nine people were evacuated from all three residences and no injuries were reported, Toronto Fire said.

At the height of the fire, 32 trucks were on scene but Jessop said the service is now scaling back its response.

“We continue our roof operations. We continue our overhaul, looking for hot spots. The bulk of the fire is knocked down right now it is under control,” Jessop said.

He said all displaced residents have found their own accommodations and do not require assistance for the City of Toronto.

Jessop added that the fire “certainly could have been a lot worse,” given how close the homes are to one another all along the street.

“You can see how close these houses are together. This is one of the unique challenges that we face in the city of Toronto is the densification and the older building so crews did an amazing job,” Jessop said.

“The incident commander made all the right decisions and as a result of that, the bulk of the fire did not spread beyond the unit of origin.”

He said it is too early to say what caused the blaze.

“Our fire investigations team has been notified,” he said. “Investigation into the origin, cause and circumstances of the fire will begin once the blaze is completely extinguished.”

With files from CP24's Courtney Heels