An arrest made in connection to the fire that gutted a century-old heritage building in downtown Toronto could lead to other charges in downtown arsons, police said Monday.

Toronto police said on Monday that a man was arrested and faces multiple charges in connection to the destruction of 335 Yonge St., located north of the Eaton Centre on the edge of Ryerson University.

Police also allege the man is connected to another fire last week, which was set in a community housing building at 123 Sackville St., near Parliament Street and Queen Street East. That is also the suspect’s address.

Police told reporters at a press conference Monday they will also be looking into other fires in the downtown area and that more charges are likely against the suspect.

“We’re looking into a number of previous occurrences within our own division and, certainly, within the downtown city core and we can tell you that we have reason to believe that there will be subsequent charges,” Insp. Gary Meissner told reporters at a press conference Monday.

The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office immediately began considering the possibility of arson after the shuttered building on Yonge Street went up in flames on Jan. 3, 2011.

The building was without active electricity, gas or hydro at the time it caught fire, and a security fence was surrounding the building, making it unlikely that squatters had entered the structure.

The fire broke out shortly after 4 a.m., at the building located just north of Yonge and Dundas Streets, one of Toronto's busiest downtown intersections.

The massive blaze took several hours and as many as 125 crew members to knock down.

It also caused an estimated $3 million in damages.

Two firefighters were injured in the blaze, slipping from an icy rooftop and falling about six metres into the fire. The men were pulled to safety by an extraction team following a tense 24-minute rescue mission.

They were rescued just before the building’s walls crumbled and all three were hospitalized as a result of their injuries.

Supt. John Tanouye called the arrest “significant,” given the magnitude of the Yonge Street blaze and the resources required to extinguish it.

Meissner also pointed out the fact that firefighters’ lives were endangered by the fire.

“It had a cascading effect, not only on the commerce, in the tourism, on the safety and well-being of individuals frequenting that area, as well as on the fire services and on other emergency personal that were responding to that fire,” Meissner said.

Stewart Poirier, 53, of Toronto, faces nine charges, including multiple arson charges, two counts of failure to comply with probation, once count of attempted murder and two counts of mischief endangering life.

Poirier is scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall on Thursday at 10 a.m.

The Yonge Street building dated back to 1893 and was once home to the Empress Hotel.

It was most recently home to the Salad King Thai restaurant, before a wall collapse seven months earlier forced it to close.