More than 40 townhouses under construction damaged in Vaughan fire

It’s unclear when residents will be able to move into the more than 40 townhomes under construction that were charred and damaged after a large fire in Vaughan over the weekend.

Vaughan Fire and Rescue Services told CTV News Monday of the 111 units in the project, 41 are damaged, some of which were ready for occupancy this month.

“This development ranged from wood construction to basically move in condition, maybe would have been within a week, so that’s the really sad part about it,” said Deputy Chief Grant Moffatt.

He added the Ontario Fire Marshall (OFM) and York Regional Police are investigating, which is standard with a fire of this size.

The OFM said Monday it spent the afternoon dealing with safety issues because a lot of the structures were in danger of collapsing.

Flames erupted around 4 a.m. Sunday at the Pine Valley Estates development located on Simmons Street near Rutherford Road and Highway 27. The fire burned for eight hours.

It was a fire so intense an aerial truck valued at $1 million on scene to fight it was engulfed.

“Due to the rapid change in fire conditions,” said Moffatt. “They couldn’t get that truck to move it quick enough.”

“To replace that truck, that’s a big deal. We have to now go through a procurement process to get a replacement.”

Moffatt said because of the wind, the amount of wood in the fire and radiant heat, the fire travelled quickly and crews didn’t have a chance to get the truck away.

Around 60 firefighters worked to extinguish the fire.

“Once (the investigation) is completed it will be turned over to the builder, they’ll get their insurance company on board to determine how to get these rebuilt, get people in them,” said Moffatt.

The OFM said it’s too early to say whether there’s anything suspicious about the fire.

The builder tells CTV News Toronto at this time, it has no comment.

Fire officials expect to be on scene for several more days.

Vaughan fire says fire fighting in the city will not be affected, as the truck destroyed was a spare.