Deputy Fire Chief Grant Moffatt: Large fire breaks out at an under-construction townhouse complex in Vaughan
Vaughan Fire anticipates that they would be able to bring the fire under control within the next hour
Yorkregion.com
Nov. 6, 2023
Rohan Puri
York Regional Police asked commuters to avoid the area of Rutherford Road and Highway 27.
A large fire broke out at an under-construction townhouse complex in Vaughan early in the morning on Sunday, Nov. 5.
Deputy Fire Chief Grant Moffatt of Vaughan Fire told YorkRegion.com that they received reports of a fire at a construction site at approximately 4:12 a.m. on Sunday morning.
"Crews arrived on scene to find a large fire," he said on Sunday afternoon. "It was upgraded to a second alarm and we have been on location since."
"Right now, we are putting out hot spots and we have one separate townhouse complex that we're still trying to gain control of," he added.
An officer from York Regional Police told YorkRegion.com that around 30 to 40 unoccupied residences caught fire; however, Moffatt said it was approximately 20 to 30 units.
"There's still some hot spots that they're trying to put out because it was rather large. So the fire department will continue to do that. And then when it's safe, the fire marshal and fire services and police will start investigating," the officer said.
Moffatt said he anticipated that they would be able to bring the fire under control within the next hour.
Both Moffatt and the York Region police officer said the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
The police official said there were no injuries, adding that there were reports of a fire truck catching fire as well.
York Regional Police asked commuters to avoid the area of Rutherford Road and Highway 27, with road closures in place. Moffatt said Rutherford Road is still currently closed.
Police said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that several occupied residences nearby were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
"Two York Region Transit buses were called. And those buses are being used to shelter the people," the officer said.
"As a precaution, there were a couple homes that were evacuated, but strictly as a precaution due to smoke. But they are now back in their units," added Moffatt.
Story also appeared on the below outlets, with a quote from the Deputy Fire Chief:
CityNews.ca: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/11/05/vaughan-fire-unoccupied-homes/
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