Fatality reported in Woodbridge house fire

Fire crews responded to Wednesday morning two-alarm blaze on Dante Court

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 10, 2016
By Jeremey Grimaldi

Daniele Bianco telephones Vince Spalierno every morning to make sure he was alright, but this morning there was no answer.

When he didn't answer a second time he wondered what was happening.

Standing outside Spalierno's Dante Court home surrounded by police and fire trucks, Bianco was suffering from a shortness of breath as he came to grips with the news that his good friend, who he said was 87, had died.

Vaughan fire chief Larry Bentley said his crews got a call at 11:08 a.m. about a two-alarm structure fire before entering the home, which was spewing smoke out of the front door.

"They quickly found the deceased man," he added.

Bianco said although Spalierno didn't garden, he said he was in good shape.

"He was a very nice guy, very friendly," he said, adding he might have had a puffer like him, but little else was wrong with his health.

Another neighbour, Maria Fiorillo, said she was inside cooking when her daughter called her from work, as she watched the incident just down the street from her home.

"Oh my God, I feel so bad, he was a very nice man, he was a good friend of my husband," she said, her two granddaughters shivering in pyjamas beside her.

She said Spalierno had been in the neighbourhood, near Weston Road and Langstaff Road since it was built 27 years ago.

Fiorillo added that Spalierno lived alone since his wife passed away about 10 years ago.