Man dies after Richmond Hill fire damages two homes and several vehicles

A 69-year-old man died after a fire damaged two homes and several vehicles on Crosby Avenue in Richmond Hill, Ontario, early Wednesday, October 21. Police said he was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead. Investigators have not determined the cause of the blaze.

York Regional Police received a call about the fire at approximately 3:05 a.m. on the stretch of Crosby Avenue between Newkirk Road and Bayview Avenue, according to the Toronto Star. Both damaged homes, which the Star described as semi-detached, were evacuated.

Burning vehicles complicated access to the homes

Several residents escaped on their own, according to Global News. Firefighters pulled a man through a basement window while crews were still extinguishing hot spots at one of the homes. Police said a man was found unresponsive and taken to hospital; the accounts do not establish whether he was the person brought out through the window.

Jim Demetriou, a spokesperson for Ontario’s fire marshal, told the Toronto Star that the families living in the burned homes would be displaced for the foreseeable future. ‘I don’t see them coming back anytime soon,’ he said. The Star also reported that a resident who escaped the blaze said his parents were in hospital.

Fire marshal to investigate the cause

The Office of the Fire Marshal is working with investigators to determine the fire’s origin, Global News reported. Demetriou told the Star that investigators would enter the homes once an engineer deemed them safe. The Star reported that police would not comment on whether they considered the fire suspicious.

A Toronto Sun account republished by Yahoo attributed to police Staff Sgt. Peter Cheung a statement that the fire began in a driveway vehicle before spreading to the homes. The cause remains unknown, and investigators have not established whether an electric vehicle or lithium battery was involved, the Star reported.