By Mike Davey
Toronto, Ontario — March 3, 2014 — Firefighters were called to Standard Auto Wreckers Monday to battle a four-alarm blaze. The fire broke out at the auto recycler’s Toronto location on Sewells Rd. around 1:30 a.m. while the facility was closed.
Three people were present at the business when the fire started but all escaped unharmed and no injuries were reported. Members of Toronto Fire Services had to deal with adverse conditions caused by extreme cold, in addition to battling the fire.
| Firefighters were called to Standard Auto Wreckers early Monday morning to deal with a fire that may have started in the facility’s warehouse space. |
The fire hydrant in front of Standard Auto Wreckers was out of commission, forcing firefighters to transport water from nearly a kilometer away, using more than a dozen fire trucks as pumping stations along the route. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
David Gold is the co-owner of Standard Auto Wreckers. He spoke to Collision Repair magazine on Monday morning to discuss the extent of the fire.
“We’ve surveyed the damage, and it looks like it started in the dismantling and warehouse area,†says Gold. “No one works here on Sunday, but we’ve got 24 hour security and they saw it right away. At this point, we really don’t have any idea how it started. We don’t even use torches in that building.â€
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| Employees of Toronto Hydro were hard at work to restore power to the auto recycling facility located near Steeles Ave. in Toronto. |
The buildings at Standard Auto Wreckers are separated into two main clusters. The central office area was untouched by the flames and Toronto Hydro had just arrived to turn the power back on when we spoke to Gold.
“Once the power is back on we can start on getting back to business. We’re also going to start looking over the videos to see if we can see how it started,†says Gold. “Toronto Fire Services and Toronto Hydro have both done great jobs in helping to contain and mitigate the damage. A lot of firefighters have trained here over the years, and they know we’re very safety conscious. The guys I spoke to seem to be as puzzled as we are.â€
For more information on Standard Auto Wreckers, please visit standardautowreckers.com.
