A person is dead after a five-alarm fire ravaged a highrise near Jane Street and Steeles Avenue West in North York on Friday evening, forcing hundreds out of the building.Flames and smoke seeped out of the 15-storey building, at 235 Gosford Blvd., home to around 700 residents, for hours as roughly 100 firefighters took turns attempting to tame the blaze. Nearly two dozen fire trucks were at the scene.Police initially reported that no one was seriously hurt following the blaze. On Saturday morning, however, fire chief Matthew Pegg revealed a body had been discovered on an 8th floor balcony of the building after the blaze was put out at around midnight. Toronto police say they are treating the death as “suspicious.” “I’d like to offer my condolences on behalf of Toronto Fire services to all the people who have been impacted as a result of this loss,” Pegg told reporters outside the building Saturday morning. “There were some units that we could not gain access to.”“It was an extremely difficult fire for our staff to fight, that was coupled with the fact the elevators weren’t working,” Pegg said.The person was found after 1 a.m., he said. Six residents were rescued and treated on scene, with one transported to hospital in stable condition.Firefighters fought the fire from inside the building. The fire escalated quickly and the crew “encountered very significant fires on multiple floors and corresponding heavy smoke,” he said. Floors seven to nine took the brunt of the fire.All residents in the building have been accounted for, Pegg said. Twenty residents are being housed at the nearby Driftwood Community Centre. The Red Cross and the Office of Emergency Management are in the area to assist those in need of shelter. On Saturday morning, a steady stream of people brought food to the community centre to help the displaced residents. Strangers and friends came loaded with steaming take-out contain ...
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