Toronto firefighters continued on Monday night to battle a massive, day-long blazed in a west-end storage facility, where one crew member was cleared from the scene after falling through a third-level floor.
Toronto Fire Services issued a mayday call shortly before 2:30 p.m. after a firefighter fell to the second floor in an industrial building at the corner of Pelham Avenue and Osler Street, near Dupont and Dundas Streets.
CTV Toronto's Colin D'Mello reports that the firefighter escaped the incident without injury and was cleared from the building without further incident.
Toronto Fire said that the firefighter was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital as a precaution.
The moment of tension highlighted a busy day for the fire service, which was called to the site at around 6:15 a.m. and have battled the blaze through the day. For a short period of time, the four-alarm blaze was upgraded to five alarms.
Fire crews fought the flames from a defensive position through the morning – pulling crews out of the building and spraying a specialized foam and water combination through windows to better coat the burning material inside.
On Monday evening, the fire reached the roof of the building, shooting flames into the sky.
Toronto Fire Services said that firefighters had trouble travelling through the high security storage facility and found the pockets of "deep seated burning of debris."
"You've got everything there from tires, to appliances, to chairs, furniture, that's what's burning," said Div. Cmmdr. Mike McCoy.
The building was described as a labyrinth of dead ends and locked doors, making it impossible to ensure the fire was knocked down in short order.
Several families were forced from their homes and a school was evacuated early Monday morning as the fire raged inside the west-end storage building.
"I woke up this morning and I smelled smoke in my house. I ran downstairs because I thought my house was burning," Blossom Johnson told CTV Toronto. "I checked all the rooms and opened up the door and I saw a lot of smoke coming from this building."
The fire forced the closure of nearby St. Josaphat Catholic School. The Toronto Catholic District School Board said staff and students were being moved to St. Luigi Catholic School for the day.
School officials said on Monday afternoon that the St. Josaphat Catholic School will remain closed on Tuesday as a safety precaution.
GO Transit has resumed service along a nearby rail line after cancelling service in the area Monday morning and causing a two-hour delay.
The initial damage estimate has been pegged at $1 million.
Toronto Fire said that they expect to remain on scene until Tuesday morning to douse hot spots and maintain a fire watch. The Fire Marshal will be on scene Tuesday to investigate.
With files from CTV Toronto's Colin D'Mello. Follow him on Twitter at @ColinDMello.
