Firefighters are battling a four-alarm blaze Sunday morning at a historic church in Toronto’s west end.
Toronto Fire said crews received report of a fire inside St. Anne’s Anglican Church on Gladstone Avenue near Dundas Street West just before 8 a.m.
Adjoining properties were evacuated as a “safety precaution,” Toronto Fire said, adding that the main body of the fire has been knocked down as of 9:55 a.m., with crews continuing to extinguish spot fires.
Water towers and crews were set up for exterior firefighting operations, they said earlier Sunday morning.
Police said they received reports of windows breaking and heavy smoke coming from the building.
There are no reports of occupants or injuries, they added.
Gladstone Avenue is closed between College and Dundas streets as crews work to bring the blaze under control. Police are advising motorists and pedestrians to use alternate routes.
A Sunday service was scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. at the church in Little Portugal, according to the its website.
St. Anne’s Anglican Church, built in 1907-1908, was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1996. In 1980, the City of Toronto also designated the church under the Ontario Heritage Act.
“The design of the church is in the Byzantine style, which is very unusual for an Anglican church,” the Ontario Heritage Trust website reads.
“St. Anne’s is constructed of concrete and brick and characterized by a cruciform plan with a distinctive central dome, 21 meters [70 feet] in height.”
