Finally, by 4:30 am, the fire was declared under control, though small fires continued to break out for the next few days, and the ruins smouldered for two weeks.Miraculously, although many fire fighters suffered minor injuries, particularly temporary eye damage due to smoke and cinders, no one died in the fire. Click to see a larger image Firefighters from cities as far away as The fire claimed one victim, John Croft, who was an explosive expert clearing the ruins from the fire.A few buildings nearby survived including the Bank of Montreal building at Yonge and Front Streets, The fire remains the largest fire ever to have occurred in Toronto. The building with the triangular top (not with the flag) on the right-hand side of the street (seen best in the 1903 photograph) was owned by the This plan was drawn for the use of insurance companies. The glow of the fire could be seen for miles in all directions. The crew also faced strong winds. By 9 pm, every fireman in the city was at the site. The deputy’s response: “We need all the assistance we can get.”While the mayor sent telegrams to other cities, urgently asking for help, the fire’s northward advance was stopped. A Call Box 12, which was used to sound the alarm, is the name for the volunteer canteen truck supporting A fictionalized account of the Fire was central to the Part of the area cleared by the fire became the site of Five thousand workers lost their jobs, temporarily or permanently. Between 9.5 and 11 million litres of water were used putting it out and over 5000 … From there it swept south to the Esplanade, and east along Front towards Yonge Street.Fire fighters and equipment from Toronto’s surrounding suburbs, and others arriving by special express trains from Hamilton and Buffalo, arrived in time to help Toronto’s exhausted fire fighters make a last stand just west of Yonge Street. Numbers under the photographs show the location of buildings on the map below.These two photographs were taken from almost exactly the same spot. Some on the ground, some climbing to the roofs of untouched buildings to get above the flames, for two hours they soaked the advancing edge of the fire. Most businesses had insurance, but even so, some lost tens of thousands of dollars. It was the second such fire for the city in its history. Financial losses were another story. Many began to rebuild immediately, and City Council worked fast to pass a new building by-law, setting standards for fire-resistant (for the time) construction. This was because of the city’s low-pressure water system. The Great Toronto Fire, April 19, 1904 The Great Toronto Fire - April 19, 1904 The exact cause of the fire was never determined but it levelled nearly 20 acres of land and over 5,000 jobs were lost, at least temporarily. At the time, Toronto’s core was an industrial area with several manufacturing buildings. The Great Fire of Toronto of 1904 was a great fire that destroyed a large section of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 19, 1904. Remembering The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 It was a miserably cold night, with bitter gusts of wind and a light snow even though it was the middle of April. No one is entirely sure what caused the blaze. The black cross in the pink circle in the upper left-hand corner shows where the fire began.The red numbers and arrows, added for this web exhibit, correspond to the red numbers underneath each picture in this exhibit. When firefighters reached the fire near Wellington and Bay Streets, they had trouble dousing the flames. But the fire continued south and east, and by 11 pm, it had reached Front Street. The Great Toronto Fire, April 19th 1904 ~Library and Archives Canada By the time the fire was out, over a hundred buildings were destroyed and damages were estimated at $10,350,000. On the first anniversary of the fire, And about an hour after sunset, things would get even worse. The fire was first spotted at 8:04 p.m., on April 19, 1904, by a With 17 fire halls alerted, two engine companies and one hose company, the fire took nine hours to get under control.