

Chris Fox, CP24.com





Toronto Fire Services has declared that the Hearn Generating Station in the Port Lands is “unsafe for public events” due to “serious deficiencies” and violations of the provincial fire code.

The news comes less than 24 hours before the Waterfront Night Market was scheduled to partly take place inside the shuttered power plant.

In an email to CP24, an organizer said that event will go on as scheduled but will only take place outside now. The organizer said that the use of the indoor space at the Hearn Generating Station “was only a small component of the show” anyway.

According to the event’s website, the Waterfront Night Market is expected to attract 120,000 visitors over three days.

“The outdoor section will still have over 150 vendors in full capacity of our plans,” X-Caliber Productions CEO Kevin Yee said.

The Hearn Generating Station has increasingly been used as a venue in recent years, hosting a number of events including the 2016 Luminato Festival.

In a press release, Toronto Fire Services said that the city “has a history of working successfully with event organizers to put the necessary life safety measures in place to safely host occasional public events at the Hearn.”

The release, however, noted that there is “no approved occupancy plan” in place for the Waterfront Night Market, which had boasted that it would be "Canada's first ever indoor and outdoor night market."

"Our primary focus is to protect the safety of the public," Toronto Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop said in the release. "Hosting public events in a space that is not equipped with fire alarm systems, proper lighting, fire exits and other serious deficiencies is not acceptable."

Toronto Fire Services says that is working with the site lessee, Studios of America, to make sure the necessary measures are taking to ensure the venue is up to code.

In the meantime, it said the interior of the venue will be off-limits for public events.

The release also points out that the “ongoing, frequent and intensive” use of the Hearn Generating Station for public events is in contravention of zoning bylaws, even if the venue is brought in line with the fire code.