Officials say a North York house fire that sent four people to hospital on Saturday is not believed to be suspicious.
The two-alarm fire broke out in the basement of a home on Pynford Crescent, in the area of Victoria Park Avenue and Ellesmere Road, shortly after 3 p.m.
Four people were rescued from the residence and were rushed to hospital for treatment.
Two of the victims, who have been identified as a mother and her teenage son, suffered life-threatening injuries following the fire. The two other victims, who are believed to be children, suffered minor injuries.
Speaking to CP24 on Sunday, Manny Garcia, a supervisor with the Office of the Fire Marshal, confirmed that the fire started in the basement of the home.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
“At this point in time, we don’t have any concerns that this is anything other than accidental,” he said. “It is early in the investigation and of course we have to go through our process.”
Garcia also noted that there were working smoke detectors inside the residence.
“Yes we have people in hospital, but I guarantee you it would have been far worse if they hadn’t had working smoke alarms,” he added.
He said officials will likely wrap up the investigation today.
“Toronto Fire did an amazing job of getting people out and giving us something to work with,” Garcia said.
“As far as challenges go, we’ve seen far more challenging situations and scenes. We’ve got a home that is essentially intact. We’ll have something to work with down there.”
