Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop says the blaze that erupted between two east end condo highrises for a second time on Monday – the scene of a weeks-long fire in between the buildings’ walls last winter – was caused by a saw creating sparks on the concrete.
“The investigation has been completed,” said Jessop at a Tuesday morning press conference.
“The fire was caused by workers in the building doing remedial work and repair work and restoration work from the original fire in the unit on the seventh floor. It was caused by sparks from a saw cutting into concrete that caused the TenTest insulation (a rigid, natural wood fiber) to again catch fire.”
Jessop told reporters that Toronto Fire responded to 11 Thorncliffe Park Drive and 21 Overlea Boulevard’s 3-alarm blaze on Tuesday morning with 12 trucks and over 100 firefighters and are still waiting to totally extinguish the blaze without any tenant evacuation necessary on either day.
“We have been continually monitoring the air in the building for both smoke and carbon monoxide and because it is safe to do so we have no intention of disrupting the (residents’) lives at this point, especially given what they went through at the end of 2025,” said the fire chief.