May 16, 2012
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Plumbing incident causes fire, destroys mansion

by Lacy Atalick

AN INFERNO HAS left 9 Lauderdale Dr., near Bayview Avenue and York Mill Road, demolished, with a roof that has collapsed into the mansion and four walls filled with debris.
 

According to fire officials, a family of four reportedly rented the house recently, and at the time of the fire only the two children, the nanny and the plumber were inside. Everyone got out safely.
 

“We know there was a plumber working in the area where the fire started,” said Bob O'Hallarn, division commander of Toronto Fire Services. “And the plumber indicated that some material from soldering … fell inside the wall.”
 

He said, as a result, the fire will not be investigated by the Ontario fire marshal.
 

“…Although we haven’t examined it in great detail as of yet, and since we can’t get inside the building, because it’s declared unsafe, we suspect that’s how it started,” O’Hallarn said, adding the fire marshal only investigates if the cause is undetermined, if there is a gaseous explosion or if there is suspicion of arson.
 

It started in the basement of the home at around four p.m., and by the time the fire trucks arrived, O’Hallarn said, the fire was well underway.
“Our guys went in and planned their course of attack — until the floors started giving way under them or felt like they were going to because they were very soft — and fought it defensively then, from outside,” he said.

This article appears in the January 2010 issue of Bayview Post

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