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.
Toronto Fire Services spokesman Deepak Chagger said there are no reports of occupants or injuries at the 124-year-old church in the city’s Little Portugal neighbourhood.
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.
‘No indication that anything was saved’: Toronto Fire
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.
Early paintings by three Group of Seven artists were installed in the church in the 1920s.
Chagger says there is “no indication that anything was saved,” though the loss of the iconic works has not been confirmed.
“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.”
Church fire is now at a 4-Alarm. Some adjoining buildings have been evacuated as a safety precaution. Main body of fire knocked down with crews extinguishing spot fires. No injuries. Expect crews and traffic to remain on scene. Avoid the area where possible. ^dc <a href=”https://t.co/qiBhLVwOI5″>pic.twitter.com/qiBhLVwOI5</a>
—@Toronto_Fire
The organizers of Do West Fest, a street festival in Little Portugal that stretches from Ossington Avenue to Lansdowne Avenue on Dundas Street W., said it will have a delayed start on Sunday due to the fire at St. Annes, just steps away from the festival.
The festival was originally scheduled to start at 11 a.m. A new start time has not been released yet.
