A large fire destroyed four newly built vacant townhouses in Markham late Monday night, resulting in likely more than $5 million in damages, according to officials, but no one was injured in the blaze.
The fire broke out in a block of townhouses on Old Kennedy Road near Aldergrove Drive. Markham fire crews responded to a call for a structural fire in a residential townhouse block at about 11 p.m.
Markham Fire Chief Chris Nearing told reporters on Tuesday that fire crews, through "tremendous effort," were able to save 18 other units under construction. Flames also damaged a church, but crews limited that damage to its roof, he added.
By the time firefighters arrived on the scene, the four townhouses were fully engulfed in flames, Nearing said.
"The fire had advanced to a stage where we were unable to make entry into any of those units. We immediately took a defensive posture and focused our attention on the residential units to the north and to the west of the involved fire," Nearing said.
Fire crews were able to save six units still under construction on the north side and 12 units on the west side.
The fire may have been fed by construction propane cylinders, however there were no explosions, Nearing said.
Residents of some nearby neighbourhoods could see the flames from their homes.
Nikhita Maganti said she heard sirens from inside her home. When she looked outside, there were several fire trucks, police vehicles and a lot of smoke.
"I went and checked my window and there was like this huge blaze," she said.
Her initial shock quickly turned to concern, when she said she realized how bad the fire was.
"We were just worried that these houses would catch fire as well. There's houses behind over there, so it was really huge. It was actually hard to see what exactly was on fire."
Ontario's Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) was initially called into investigate, but it said the City of Markham terminated the investigation. The damage is so severe that there is little chance of determining the origin, cause and circumstances of the fire, the OFM said.
The scene has now been turned over to the owner's insurance company to allow it to conduct its own investigation, the OFM added.