

Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





A man in his 50s suffered severe burns after a fire investigators consider to be suspicious in nature broke out in a TCHC building in Moss Park on Saturday night.

Capt. David Eckerman said fire crews were called to 295 Shuter Street, near the intersection of Parliament and Shuter streets, at 5:40 p.m.

Acting Platoon Chief Kevin Aucoin said that when firefighters got to the seventh floor elevators, they found “occupants of the building extinguishing fire” on the victim’s clothing.

Aucoin said one firefighter stayed with the victim while the rest continued to the unit that was on fire.

The fire went to two alarms eight minutes later, as firefighters encountered thick smoke on the seventh floor of the building, Eckerman said. The fire was knocked down at 5:58 p.m.

A male resident was found with severe burns to his body, Eckerman said. The victim was taken to Sunnybrook Hospital’s burn unit for treatment, police Sgt. David Wallace said.

The man has burns to approximately 40 per cent of his body and is in stable condition.

Wallace said police are treating the fire as suspicious due to the fact that the victim was found outside of his unit. He also said firefighters may have smelled gas or some other accelerant inside the unit.

Police were canvassing other residents of the building and plan to review surveillance footage inside the building.

Parliament Street was been closed north of Queen Street. A TTC was sent to provide shelter to displaced residents.

Office of Fire Marshal investigator Mike Ross says "there is a foot of debris" in one room of the bachelor apartment that caught fire. He said nothing has been ruled out at this point in the investigation.