2 critically injured in Scarborough house fire

Two people are fighting for their lives in hospital following a house fire in Scarborough’s Malvern neighbourhood early Tuesday morning.

Crews were called to a two-storey, detached house on Snowball Crescent, near Markham Road and Sheppard Avenue East, shortly before 5:30 a.m.

Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop told reporters that firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames on the second floor of the home.

“This was a significant fire,” Jessop said at the scene on Tuesday.

“Our crews arrived very quickly and it quickly escalated.”

He said firefighters fought their way through flames to get to two victims on the second level.

“You can see the conditions my staff were met with but we had reports of people inside and they heroically fought their way through, got up to the second floor, found them quickly (and) rescued them,” he said.

“I want to extend my deepest thoughts and prayers to those that are fighting for their lives at this time.”

Jessop also posted a message on social media, thanking emergency responders for their hard work unde “challenging conditions” and offering well wishes to the “critically injured occupants.”

The two people, identitifed as a couple in their early 60s, were transported to the hospital via emergency run with life-threatening condition. Police tell CTV News Toronto that their injuries are both still considered critical.

Jamie Smith, a relative of the two people who were injured in the fire, told CTV News Toronto that he was at work early this morning and listening to the radio when he heard there had been a fire on their street.

“I phoned my wife and said that there’s a fire on your sister’s street and went and checked the feed. I guess they had CTV or something on and then she said, ‘That’s my sister’s house.’ So I left the shop, she left home, and we arrived here,” he said.

“I’m still in disbelief that this happened.”

Smith says upon arrival, they were met with a devastating scene and quickly learned their loved ones were in hospital. The family dog, he added, was nowhere to be found.

“They’re in the hospital on life support and their kids are there with them,” he said.

“I don’t know, I’ve just gotta try and help them out as much as I can now.

Smith told CTV News Toronto that two of the couple’s children lived at home, but were away at the time of the fire. A third child, he said, has boarded a plane home from Edmonton today, to be here with them.

Jessop, meanwhile, said fire investigators, along with Toronto police, will look into the cause, origin, and circumstances surrounding the fire.

The Office of the Fire Marshal has also been notified given the severity of the two occupants’ injuries.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Janice Golding