Two Toronto firefighters were injured when a floor collapsed during a fire in a townhouse on Perth Avenue Wednesday morning.
The firefighters were injured while tackling the blaze at 417 Perth Ave., near Dupont and Dundas Streets. One of the firefighters injured her leg, and the other was treated for smoke inhalation.
The firefighters were working inside the building and fell into the basement when the ground floor collapsed, Toronto Fire said.
The captain was one of the firefighters who fell, but was not injured. He was able to hang onto the first floor and then helped the other two climb up, using his body as a ladder.
A mayday call was sent out, but the alert ended once the firefighters got out of the home.
The fire broke out in the basement of a townhouse on Perth Avenue shortly before 8 a.m., and residents were evacuated from neighbouring homes as a precaution.
At one point, 13 fire trucks and about 50 firefighters were working to put out the fire. As the fire died down, Toronto crews did a final overhaul to make sure there were no hidden hot spots.
Dupont Street was closed to traffic from Perth Avenue to Symington Avenue until shortly before noon.
The 26 Dupont bus is diverting both in both directions via Lansdowne Avenue, Davenport Road and Osler Street as fire trucks block the area near the home.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
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