Fire damages Danforth business, apartment

Firefighters battle flames and smoke behind the Giffin-Mack funeral home. The fire shut down Danforth Avenue east of Main Street this morning. (Photo by Jon Lamont)

Firefighters battle flames and smoke behind the Giffin-Mack funeral home. The fire shut down Danforth Avenue east of Main Street this morning. (Photo by Jon Lamont)

A fire broke out on the second floor of a funeral home on Danforth Avenue east of Main Street this morning.

The two-alarm blaze erupted at around 10:45 a.m. in the Giffen-Mack Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 2570 Danforth Ave. Traffic along the Danforth was disrupted when police shut down a section east of Main. TTC service was also disrupted in the area for about two hours.

“There were no injuries,” said Toronto police Sgt. Ajay Sidhu. “We believe the fire was related to the construction and renovations inside.”

Smoke billowed out of the building onto the street and into the TTC station behind the funeral home. Bystanders gathered around, watching as fire crews battled the blaze.

“I thought I smelled smoke when I got off the subway about an hour ago,” said passerby Maeve McCarthy as she watched the commotion. “I looked around, didn’t see any smoke. Then I came back, and saw all the fire trucks.”

The fire was out in about half an hour. But firefighters had to pull siding off of the second-floor apartment walls and tear down some of the ceiling to extinguish the blaze.

Toronto Fire Services estimates that there was about $200,000 in damage.

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Posted: Nov 26 2015 6:42 pm
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