Dault Road fire
At least 15 firetrucks descended on Dault Road late this afternoon after fire broke out in the garage of a home that Toronto Fire says was occupied by hoarders.
District Fire Chief Paul Cormier says nobody was injured in the fire, which started in a wood stove in the garage.
“A hoarder’s nest”
After extinguishing the fire in the garage, Cormier says they had to ensure it hadn’t spread to the house and that required removing a lot of household objects.
“It’s a real hoarder’s nest,” said Cormier. “We’re checking for extension, that the fire hasn’t breached the interior walls. So crews have been in doing extensive overhaul. There’s a lot of debris on the roof and everywhere basically. In the garage too.”
The garage on Dault Road where the fire began in a wood burning stove
There are only half a dozen houses on Dault Road and all of the neighbours are familiar with the occupants of #5.
A woman who lives in the house and only identified herself as Margaret says she was in the kitchen when she heard two loud bangs and went outside to investigate.
“I was baking in the kitchen. And I went out the back and saw a lot of smoke coming out of the garage. When I came out to the front it was absolutely on fire. It was terrible. I went in there and got my passport and all my emergency stuff. I turned all the gas off because I was baking. And I left.”
Neighbours had notified City
A neighbour who lives across the street says she called the City more than once about smoke coming out of the garage through a homemade chimney.
Debris removed from the garage by firefighters
“The chimney was quite short and quite close to the other neighbour. I did call Fire Services at the time. I don’t know whether they visited but the chimney got taller a couple of days later. We did see smoke coming out of it every now and again. But we’d phone 911 and the smoke would stop.”
Previous issues with house
Neighbours say there have been issues at the house, which backs on to the Scarborough Bluffs, for many years.
They say the occupants pick up garbage and they’ve seen other people dropping off household items.
Neighbours say it’s not unusual for there to be as many as seven cars on the property.
According to neighbours, one year at Christmas time a motorcycle was hoisted on to the roof of the house and attached to the chimney as an ornament.
Scroll down for more photos.
More debris removed by firefighters
The unusual nature of the fire required a large response by the fire department
Dault is a tiny road and the trucks spilled onto Kildonan and took up the entire length of the street.
The very sad thing..we have all known about this for years..ie. hazard to the neighbours. And we all know that many neighbours have complained to City Hall. All of Birchcliff Village probably had something burn that belonged to them in that fire. Not funny. Sad…as usual. There will be no action until something like this happens. We are lucky it was not tragic..and no one lost their homes. Something..needs to be done about the occupants of that house. But, who will take the lead on that.
Fire crews stayed on Dault overnight to watch for flare ups. Thanks to all who spent a cold and wet day and a very wet night here.