One person found dead after early-morning encampment fire in Liberty Village

Firefighters are shown on scene after a blaze involving an encampment in Liberty Village on Saturday morning. (Simon Sheehan)

One person is dead after an encampment fire in Liberty Village on Saturday morning.

It happened on Jefferson Avenue just south of Lamport Stadium at around 6 a.m.

Fire Chief Matthew Pegg said that crews were initially called to the area for reports that an adjacent cell tower was on fire.

However, he said that once crews arrived on scene they realized that the fire had in fact consumed “some kind of a single makeshift shelter or makeshift enclosure” located nearby.

The blaze was quickly put out but one person was subsequently found deceased in the remains.

Their identity is not immediately clear.

“Our deepest condolences go out to all those impacted by this loss today,” Pegg told CP24 at the scene. “Our fire investigations team is engaged now, we have notified the Office of the Fire Marshal and of course our colleagues at Toronto police are here and the coroner has been engaged. This will all happen methodically, of course, with a full investigation to understand exactly what has happened here.”

Pegg said that there was some “heat impingement” on the nearby cell tower, though he said that there does not appear to be significant damage.

He said that the investigation into the cause of the fire is underway but will likely take “a considerable amount of time.”

“Ultimately it is about determining origin so where the fire started, the cause of the fire and the circumstances that contributed to the fire and in this case the fatal injuries that are here today,” he said.

There have already been a number of encampment fires in Toronto in recent months, including one underneath the Gardiner Expressway in December that left a man seriously injured.