A portion of the Don Valley Parkway will be closed tonight as a building next to the highway will be demolished after it was destroyed by a massive fire. City officials said the northbound lanes of the DVP will be blocked from the Gardiner Expressway to Dundas Street at 7:30 p.m. They say that portion of the highway is expected to reopen at 6 a.m. on Friday. The fire broke out at 2 Matilda St. shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The building is located adjacent to the highway, just south of Dundas Street. “As the building is only approximately 30 feet away from the edge of the Don Valley Parkway, the roadway needs to be closed during that demolition to ensure the safety of both the travelling public and the demolition crews,” said Ashley Curtis with the City of Toronto’s Transportation Services. “The work will be completed overnight to minimize disruption.” The Don Roadway, Eastern Avenue, and Queen Street ramps will also be closed during demolition. Toronto Fire Services Chief Jim Jessop said heavy equipment will be brought to the site to “systematically take portions of the building down.” Demolishing the building, he said, will allow crews to finally conduct primary and secondary searches of the building as well as to “continue operations of fire suppression to get to the point of loss stop.” When crews responded to the fire, the chief said they were met with heavy flames “coming out of every opening of the building.” “The fire was quickly escalated to a third alarm,” Jessop said. A portion of the DVP and other nearby roads were blocked as crews surrounded the building to fight the fire. “The incident commander correctly made the decision to surround the building with elevated devices, including shutting down portions of the Don Valley last night, so that we could get our master streams and aerials up so that we could get as much water on the fire as quickly as possible, given the intensity of the fire,” Jessop said. Paramedics said one police officer was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The building, which used to house a live event space and a coffee company, has been vacant for years, the chief said. The cause, origin, and circumstances of the fire are unknown. Police confirmed to CP24 on Thursday that the fire has been deemed suspicious. Jessop said Toronto Fire’s investigations division will lead the probe into the blaze with the assistance of Toronto police. He noted that the Office of the Fire Marshal was notified but declined to attend.
