Crews putting out a fatal fire that broke out at a Miles Road home. Photos top and middle CP24.
One person in Mimico is dead after a home was burnt in a fatal fire.
Fire crews were called to a large two-storey home on Miles Road, south of Lake Shore Blvd. W., near Royal York Road, around 6:41 p.m. on August 17.
“There was visible flames through the front window. Crews managed to get the fire under control very quickly,” Deputy Fire Chief Paul Fitzgerald said.
Firefighters located one person inside the burning home and rescued them. Toronto police said the resident had no vital signs and was pronounced dead at the scene.
“We’ve notified the Ontario Fire Marshal, and they’ll work together with Toronto police to determine a cause and the circumstances and origin leading up to the fire,” Fitzgerald told CP24.
One person died from the intense blaze and smoke.
Ironically, Miles Road was named after Undertaker Arthur William Miles, who operated a public zoo on the grounds of his Mimico estate that took up most of the road.
He was the Undertaker of many of Canada’s top politicians and citizens including Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Sir William Muluck, Sir Joseph Flavelle, Sir Henry Pellatt and Sir William Hearst.
Miles also arranged the 1914 mass funeral of 109 Torontonians on the Empress of Ireland that sank in the St. Lawrence River, in what is considered Canada’s worst maritime disaster, which took the lives of an entire Salvation Army Band.
Undertaker Arthur William Miles (right) with his pet elephant ‘Tootsie’ back in the day. He motorized funerals and became rich.
The animal lover travelled the world collecting animals for his collection that contained a beloved elephant named “Tootsie,” two camels, two giraffes, about 40 donkeys, several monkeys, ostriches, and other exotic birds.
His workers erected a large wooden pier in Lake Ontario which held a number of swans.
The zoo was eventually forced to move by the City following complaints from neighbours