Some residents are moving back into their apartments at 11 Thorncliffe Park Drive after being displaced for more than five weeks due to a complex, five-alarm fire.
Over 400 residents of 11 Thorncliffe Park Drive and 21 Overlea Boulevard were forced to move out of their homes on Nov. 27 when a five-alarm fire broke out in the walls between the neighbouring buildings.
High carbon monoxide levels were detected, prompting the evacuation of both buildings.
It took until Dec. 15 for the fire to be extinguished due to the gap between buildings being filled with compressed wood material which burns slowly.
Fire Chief Jim Jessop called the fire “unprecedented and extremely challenging” at the time, adding that the space between the walls was only between 25 and 50 millimetres and firefighters couldn’t directly access it.
The cause of the fire still remains under investigation, but it’s believed to have started in the building’s parking garage before making its way up.
According to residents, a memo was sent out by management of the building, approving a phased-in return to their units that began on Sunday evening into Monday morning.
Chief Building Official and Executive Director of Toronto Building, Kamal Gogna, tells CityNews that within hours of receiving reports from third-party firms to assess access and remediation Sunday, the City of Toronto confirmed all units, except for 16 along the shared wall, could be reoccupied.
Residents in the neighbouring building affected by the fire, 21 Overlea Boulevard, remain displaced and haven’t been given an official re-occupancy date.
It’s welcome news for many of the Thorncliffe Park building residents who have been living at local hotels over the holidays.
One woman who spoke with CityNews said it’s a shame that this happened in this building.
“Something that no one has said is that this building as always been extremely prudently kept up and very well run, we still of course don’t even know the cause, and I think management has done the best job for us while we were out,” she said.
Renovation crews are still on site. One resident of 21 Overlea Boulevard who spoke with CityNews said they’re hopeful they’ll be back home by next week.
