Video shows man dangling from balcony to escape Toronto high-rise fire
Neighbours watched in disbelief and horror as a man dangled from a Scarborough high-rise balcony, let go and dropped a storey, then caught himself on the railing below to escape the flames burning through an adjacent apartment on Saturday.
Video from a resident of West Hill Apartments on Lawrence Ave. near Kingston Rd. and shared with CTV News Toronto shows the man on the fifth floor first take what appears to be the wheel of a bike to break through the chicken wire on the balcony.
“It was like something out of a movie,” Shane Greer recalled.
A tenant of the high-rise Toronto Community Housing residence, Greer says he wasn’t sure of the danger when the fire alarm first sounded around 4 p.m. Saturday, as the alarms are often pulled as pranks in the building.
“I wasn't taking any chances,” Greer said. “I grabbed this dog, I ran like hell, down the hallway, down the stairs, out here to see how bad it was.”
Flames covered the walls of a unit on the fifth floor, and licked up the balcony to the floors above.
Ryan Richter was driving by. His partner Tiffany pulled out her phone to record the terrifying scene they were witnessing, taking the above video from the car.
“You could see like the roof, the walls, everything was engulfed in flame,” Richter said.
One resident of the building was pronounced dead at the scene. Five other residents were taken to hospital — one woman in her 60s sustained life-threatening injuries, according to Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg.
Firefighters are on the scene of a two-alarm fire that broke out in a unit at an apartment building near Kingston Road and Lawrence Avenue East. (Simon Sheehan/CP24)
The fifth-floor hallways have been left an ashy mess. Some residents of the building say they have no working stoves, and the elevator is now out of service while Fire Marshal investigators continue to piece together what happened.
“Fire inspectors said they’ll be here for the next two days, so obviously the elevators are going to be down, probably, until Wednesday morning,” said Bianca Hubbard, who lives on the 11th floor.
“While the investigation has only just begun, any determination of cause would be premature at this stage,” Sean Driscoll with the Office of the Fire Marshal said on Sunday, “however I can confirm that the fire started in, and was isolated to, a single unit.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Statistics Canada says real GDP grew 0.2 per cent in February
Canada's GDP rose 0.2 per cent in February, driven by a rebound in transportation and warehousing, which saw the largest recorded month-to-month rise in over a year at 1.4 per cent.
BREAKING 4 dead, including infant, in wrong-way crash involving police on Ontario's Highway 401
A wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby, Ont. last night has left four people dead, including an infant, Ontario’s police watchdog says.
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Winner of US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot is an immigrant from Laos who has cancer
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III returned to public duties on Tuesday, visiting a cancer treatment charity and beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch's own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.