A body has been discovered on Friday at the scene of a house fire near Don Mills and York Mills roads, the Ontario Fire Marshal confirms.
Crews had been searching for a 68-year-old man following the fire which happened on Camwood Crescent on New Year’s Day morning.
Toronto Fire division commander Andrew Kostiuk said a neighbour called 911 to report the fire, but said the fire may have been burning for two to three hours before the call came in.
“Relatives told us he was 68, lived by himself for a number of years now, and that he frequents the basement,” Kostiuk said.
“He had a rec room down there. Spent a lot of time in that area, so that’s the area we’re waiting to search.”
It appears the fire, which was upgraded from two-alarm, started in the basement and engulfed the entire home.
Fire crews were not able to locate the resident during a preliminary search of the house.
The first floor collapsed into the basement and the debris is under three feet of water. Contractors with heavy machinery will be brought in since firefighters are unable to get into the basement to search the area.
“The equipment will help to lift the first floor out of the basement so we could conduct our final search of the basement,” Kostiuk said.
“The house will have to be looked at by a city building engineer. We have them en route to take a look at the structural stability.”
At first, the fire was deemed suspicious because gas cans were found on the property. It turned out there were jerrycans piled up in the garage, but most were empty. Fire officials believe they may be related to the man’s former line of work.
Paramedics said one firefighter received minor burns to his forehead and has since been released from hospital.
The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office has been called in to investigate.
Fire officials said the damaged is estimated around $500,000.
3 Alarm fire under control. Male 68 unaccounted for. Estimated $500,000 property & contents loss pic.twitter.com/CImY0Dgr93
— Toronto Fire Service (@Toronto_Fire) January 1, 2015