Oakmount Road blaze shuts down Bloor Street.
Firefighters discuss the fire on Oakmount Road, in the Bloor Street West and High Park Avenue area early Wednesday morning.
Staff photo/LISA RAINFORD
A City of Toronto engineer will determine the fate of an almost 100-year old house that went up in flames early Wednesday morning, May 25 on Oakmount Road in the Bloor Street West and High Park Avenue area.
Fire crews were still battling the blaze around 10 a.m., four hours after neighbours called 9-1-1.
A stately home at the turn-of-the-century, 12 Oakmount Rd. is one of a series of vacant homes owned by WJ Properties and slated for demolition to make room for a proposed condominium and townhouse complex by the Daniels Corporation. The block of houses, including 12 Oakmount, have been boarded up for 10-plus years.
“In all likelihood, people broke in and set a fire for warmth. It was a chilly night last night,” said Capt. Roman Wojnarski across the street from the charred house, which was built in 1913, he added. “A city engineer will determine whether or not it should remain standing.”
The good news, said Wojnarski, is that no one was hurt and no one needed to be relocated. The owner of this property, said the veteran firefighter, has done all it can to keep these premises secure and boarded up.
“Unfortunately, it’s become a magnet for vandals and homeless people,” said Wojnarski. “It’s an undesirable state for a property to be in.”
Firefighters from the Keele station, no. 423, had been keeping an eye on the boarded up homes throughout the winter, he added, “but it’s an uphill battle.”
Sgt. Art Kotas of 11 Division said the property experienced some problems in the past, however, police addressed the issue.
Allan Weinbaum, vice-president of WJ Properties, said that because the house has been boarded up, there were no utilities hooked up, no gas, no electricity.
“It’s a logical inference that someone set the fire,” he said, “but no one has gone in and forensically determined this at this point.”
It’s been an ongoing battle to secure the property, he added.
Firefighters doused the flames in what Capt. Adrian Ratushniak called “defense mode,” which meant all personnel were pulled out of the building.
“No firefighters were put in a compromising position for an abandoned home,” he said.
Instead, fire crews used an aerial apparatus to fight the two-alarm fire. Forty firefighters and two trucks doused the flames. Firefighters continued to check for hot spots after 10 a.m. Wednesday.