Sassafraz on Fire, No Celebs Injured
(Video submitted of blogTO reader, Maurice)
As I type this, the legendary Yorkville bistro, Sassafraz, is burning down. As you can see in the photo above, Yorkville is engulfed in smoke and according to a report just in from theStar.com, the roof is just about ready to collapse.
Known best, not for their great cuisine (though it is!), but for the ultra-famous VIP characters who dine there when in town, this story is big news at this hour (yep, major media have already sent their helicopters perilously close).
4:30pm - LATEST UPDATE: Thanks Maurice for the incredible video! The roof collapsing is not the worst of it as now the problem is that the fire has spread into the walls of the old building. Firefighters continue to fight the blaze but with hidden fires spreading in hard-to-reach places, looks like very little is going to survive this one.
Our blogTO readers have been reporting back with some images. I'm continuing to post them here, so if you'd like to add your perspective, send your photos to our flickr pool. Alternatively, if you aren't on Flickr or have video, send it over to me at tanja [[ at ]] blogto.com.
From Gavatron's Flickr set:
From Karl Martin, aka, ethervizion:
Elsewhere on Flickr, from Robert A Segarra:
Also, Chromewaves:
Bitpicture on the scene:
Comments (45)
Thanks for sharing this photo of this breaking news with us, Gavan!
I love breaking news!
Everyone at my office is pretty excited about this - they were all big celebrity-whores I guess...
Apparently, there's another blogTO reader or two on the scene, so maybe we'll have some more photos by later today.
I work on Bloor with a bird's eye view of the whole scene, what struck me was; earlier, a police car was blocking the street between Roots & Harry Rosen, a fire truck, coming from the west on Bloor, was racing to the scene but couldn't turn up the street because of the car, they started honking their horn, and then this cop comes moseying down the street, slowly, to move the offending vehicle - were those firemen ever pissed off!
This is another turn-of-the-century building right? It seems like the downtown core has had so many large fires recently.
135 fire department staff are on the scene.
Judging by Sahara's comment, "copguy" is likely the same guy who was blocking the firetrucks earlier.
We are on the 9th floor above Sassafraz and the fire is now under control , I have some great footage and will post it on youtube soon ,,
Maurice
Yikes... roof collapse... any word on injuries. I hope the fire crews were clear when it came down.
So far it seems no injuries to anyone inside or to firefighters. CityTV was reporting that fire crews were shouting to be very careful as things could crumble any minute.
It seems amazing that it is being contained this well and not spreading to any other buildings.
I didn't see any paramedics get out of their vehicles, so no injuries, the firefighters got off the roof and relied on ladders and cranes a couple of hours ago. I agree, it's amazing how well contained they kept the fire, and there are some real cute firemen too!
I go away for a week, and the whole city decides to crumble? Doh! =)
Glad to hear nobody was hurt, but it is sad to know that Sassafraz is gone (for now). I loved walking by it on my way to Remy's.
Initial reports talked about the fire possibly being started in the women's upstairs bathroom... though now they're saying it could well have been the kitchen.
The washroom possibility lends to much speculation.. hm!
I'm all for cracking wise about celebrities, but my cousin Malou works there as a manager. I'm calling to see if she's okay.
I feel very badly for the people who work there, particularly those who rely on tips to make a living....
Hope everything's fine with your cousin, Joey. No injuries so far, so that's got to be a consolation.
Tanja: Well, I didn't actually write the Torontoist entry, but I was there snappin' some digits. You guys pulled the fireman one in from my Flickr account (Bitpicture), so I'll plug that instead! :-P I smell like smoke now...
I smell insurance fraud !!! they had a modern kitchen. They're burning the place for insurance money and zone chaning !! READ BETWEEN THE LINES PEOPLE !!!
I cheered when I heard the news.
Now, I'm just waiting for Greek lightning to hit the Drake and I'm gravy.
I for one am stunned to here the news. I saw it on my way to work. I worked there for two years not long ago. Margot and I offer our support and condolences to the owners and staff of Sassafraz. Our thoughts are with you.
someone put an evil eye on that place with ferrari's and lamborghini's parked in front.
Do they have insurance to cover all the refunds for the new year celebration.
Best video evar.
The music makes it 100 times better.
LOL waiting for lightning to hit the Drake.
that's funny yo.
You can tell when posters work in a
restaurant when...
The music makes the video 100x better? Why are we making a 'peppy' music video out of a serious fire?
Like it or not, Sassafraz involved many employees and some owners who are probably a little shocked and distraught to see their livelihood go up in flames. If this was a video of Maple Leaf Gardens going up in flames (coupled with 'Man Overboard' by Blink 182), I'm sure there would be more people up in arms.
Save the pop punk for your skateboard videos, Maurice.
Well.... I for one HAVE read between the lines. An "oil fire"?? Please... Sure accidents happen, but realistically, all of the people who work the line in the kitchen at Sassafraz (and I've known a lot of them) are the some of the most highly trained cooks in the city. Not to mention that tens of thousands of dollars go into fire suppressants such as sprinkler systems and hazard training. There's slim chance that a grease fire would get that quickly out of hand without being quelled at the source. Also, the dining room?? If you've ever been to or worked at Sassafraz, you know the layout. An oil fire that starts in the kitchen would have one helluva time starting simutaneously in the dining room. It's virtually impossible. Believe me, I know first hand what kind of proceedures are in place at Sassafraz and little is left to "accident". Mark my words people, there is more to this story than initially meets the eye...
Oh, and my heart goes out to all the staff. Rest assured though, you will find other work in far more profitable places. Merry Christmas to all and to all, peace and prosperity in the years to come.
Paul: Kick ass comparison, buddy. Let's compare a cheesy Toronto celeb resto to a Canadian national institution. It's never good news but you're giving a lot of importance to a place lacking any architectural or historical value, that'll probably be back up in months just the same as it was.
Travis,
Aside from your annoyance comparing Sassafraz to Maple Leaf Gardens, my point still stands in that I think utilizing Blink 182 as the score for watching someone's livelihood become ruins is a little crass. Someone owned the place, ran it, and people worked there; I just think it was a bad decision.
On a positive note, watching BlogTO come together as a community to report a breaking story better than any local service was ridiculously impressive.
I work on the cleaning team it is crazy in there i never seen anything like it before i feel bad for the owners and the staff..
Knew the staff and mgmt at Sassafraz. My condolences and regret goes out to the group. Good to see the conspiracy theorists jumping on the Oliver Stone bandwagon within a matter of minutes. I think it was the guy behind the grassy knoll next to Harry Rosen with the Molotov cocktail started it!
Great group of people. Pretty cool to mock others tragedy. Wonder if was their own home, if we ran some Killer if that would be as equally as entertaining. Not cool jackass, not cool. And for the information, that entire block has some architectural/historical significance to it. Do your homework before the comments.
Nice work and kudos out to the fire dudes for controlling and saving the structure for the most part. I hope the signed Don Johnson photo is still intact...hehe.
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