TORONTO -- There were some scary moments for residents, but no injuries, after a three-alarm fire broke out a downtown Toronto highrise Thursday morning.

The fire broke out in a third-floor unit at the building on George Street, between Richmond and Adelaide streets, at around 10:23 a.m.

According to Toronto Fire, it extended into an adjacent unit and then spread up to a fourth-floor balcony.

Images sent to CP24 showed visible flames on a balcony and thick, black smoke pouring into the air was visible for kilometres around. 

“Upon arrival the crews were met with heavy smoke and flame. They initiated an aggressive fire attack and the fire was quickly knocked down,”Division Commander Colin Giffin told CP24 at the scene.

He said the decision was made to add a third alarm to make sure there were additional resources if necessary.

“From outside there was a lot of flame and a lot of smoke and obviously with a multi-unit residential building and with the COVID-19 situation, there could be a lot of occupants at home and the decision was made to escalate it to a third alarm,” Giffin said.

No occupants were found inside the affected units following a search by firefighters, Giffin said.

The fire sent panicked residents who were home due to the COVID-19 pandemic fleeing zoom meetings and yoga sessions to escape the burning building.

“I was having a zoom meeting with the workforce and I look to my left and it’s dark outside. There’s literally a wall of black smoke,” one resident who identified himself as Rob told CP24.

He said the fire alarm started to go off and that’s when he fled. Despite the panic, he said residents still made an effort to maintain social distancing as best as possible.  

“Down the stairs was good. People were still keeping their distance. That’s the vibe. Still, everyone was very orderly and everyone just knew we were all in this together, trying to get outside as fast as possible,” he said. “They were trying. They were doing their best. They were doing everything they could but obviously it’s an emergency situation and they were trying their best.”

Another resident, Sheila, said she lives on the eighth floor, but the smoke outside her window led her to believe the fire was right below her.

“I was actually on a video call with my manager and I thought it was a false alarm,” she said, clutching her small dog outside the building. “I went outside to my balcony and there was just black everywhere. Panic struck and I told my dog ‘we gotta go.’

“I grabbed his leash and we ran out the door with just the most important thing, which is myself and him. But we’re all safe, so I’m happy.”

Another resident said she was in the middle of an online yoga session when she had to flee.

It’s not yet clear what caused the fire.

“It is very early. Our operations are almost done. We are in the middle of ventilating the smoke from the building,” Giffin said. “We do have our fire investigation division on route and they will be doing a thorough investigation, as well as an audit of the building for fire safety.”

The fire comes just a day after Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, in the wake of a fatal house fire in Etobicoke, urged residents to practice proper fire safety at home. He said the most common causes of fires in Toronto are unattended cooking and smokers’ materials.  

No injuries were reported in connection with the highrise fire.