Still standing
[attach]768[/attach]A spate of suspected arsons has been keeping police and firefighters busy in the Danforth area.
Firefighters were called to Wiley Ave., near Donlands and Mortimer Aves. overnight on Aug. 23, where several garbage fires had been set.
Resident Bill Alkis, his sister and parents were awoken just after 4 a.m. by a neighbour, who saw the fire. Alkis ran outside, where he found his freestanding rear garage, and that of his neighbour’s, ablaze.
“The flames were about 20 feet in the air,” he said. “I could the feel flames hitting me. It was pretty intense.”
His neighbour’s garage was fully engulfed, and two cars in its driveway were also on fire.
According to Alkis, yard waste had been shoved underneath the vehicles and deliberately lit.
Luckily, his garage is still standing, but the contents like beds, clothing and toys were all damaged by smoke and water and had to be thrown out. Alkis said the aluminum siding over the wood structure is what saved his family’s garage from the same fate as his neighbours’ garage, which burned to the ground.
Though no residents were hurt, a firefighter suffered minor chest and shoulder injuries from debris falling off one of the garage roofs.
Police are investigating the incidents, said Detective Sergeant Al Haunts of 54 Division.
“Fortunately to date, we haven’t had any extensive property damage or any real threat to life, but we’re concerned about it in that there’s always the chance that one of these things will get out of hand,” he said.
Less than two weeks later, arsonists are believed to have struck again, this time in a commercial area.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 5, two Danforth storefronts located across the street from each other suffered suspicious minor fires.
Firefighters were called to Artists’ Material and Supplies, just a block west of Woodbine Ave., around 2:30 a.m. after garbage was stuffed in an old coal chute at the rear of the building. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, which caused about $1,000 in smoke damage.
About 45 minutes later, firefighters responded to a call at a nearby Value Village store. Toronto Fire Captain Mike Strapko said a garbage dumpster was aflame.
Firefighters got the blaze under control, but the fire had spread to an exterior service roll-up entry door, causing about $5,000 in damage.
Strapko said given the close proximity and timing, the two storefront fires could be linked.