

Codi Wilson, CP24.com





A woman pulled from home in Etobicoke after a fire broke out early Thursday morning has died in hospital.

The two-alarm fire broke out at around 2:30 a.m. at a residence on Byng Avenue, near Albion Road.

Officials say three people were removed from a basement apartment after a fire broke out in the unit.

“Our crews arrived and immediately engaged and suppressed a fire located in the basement of the occupancy,” Larry Cocco, the chief of fire investigations for Toronto Fire Services, told CP24 at the scene.

Paramedics said a woman was initially found without vital signs but was revived and rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition.

A second person, a man in his 20s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Officials later confirmed that the woman critically injured in the fire, who is also believed to be 21 years old, died in hospital.

Her name has not been released.

A total of seven people reside in the home but damage, fire officials say, was confined to the basement apartment.

“It is minimal damage although the fire obviously had devastating results,” Toronto Fire Deputy Chief Jim Kay said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known but Cocco said a “thorough and comprehensive” investigation is underway.

He added that investigators have determined that the fire started in a basement bedroom.

“The Office of the Fire Marshal is currently assisting Toronto Fire Services and Toronto police in conducting that investigation into the origin, cause, and circumstances of the fire,” Cocco said.

It is not yet known whether there were working smoke detectors in the basement.

“That is still part of our investigation so it is a little early to tell,” Kay told CP24 earlier this morning.

“That is certainly going to be one of the focal points of our investigation.”