A man has died after a fire in Toronto’s east end that had firefighters battling intense heat and blinding smoke to pull the victim from the burning home, the fire chief said Friday.
Chief Jim Jessop said crews “forced their way down into a chimney with extreme heat” as they responded to the morning fire. A man was quickly pulled from the house and sent to hospital where he died.
Jessop called it a “horrible situation” and extended his condolences to those impacted by the fire.
Crews responded around 6:30 a.m. Friday to the fire on a residential cul-de-sac in Scarborough, near Lawrence and Morningside avenues.
Firefighters were met with “heavy, heavy smoke and heat and flames” coming from the basement, the chief said. The heat was so intense it melted parts of the garage as it vented out.
“The charring inside that building is something I haven’t seen in a while,” Jessop said.
He did not speculate on the cause of the fire or say how many others may have been in the house at the time. It is Toronto’s eleventh fatal fire of the year, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 13, 2026.
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