‘No risk’ of Mimico Creek being impacted by waste management blaze: Toronto fire

There is “no risk” the Mimico Creek will be impacted after a five-alarm fire broke out at a waste management facility in Etobicoke, Toronto fire says.

Acting Deputy Fire Chief Steve Darling told reporters Thursday morning emergency crews have been mitigating runoff at the creek, which was impacted in 2023 by a six-alarm fire at a chemical distribution facility in the city’s west end.

“Toronto Water is on scene right now. They’ve got bales of hay and dikes in the event that it goes. Right now, it’s under control. There’s no risk of that being impacted at all,” he said.

“The Ministry of the Environment has also been notified, but again we’re keeping our eye on that and so far, so good.”

Darling said at one point, more than 100 firefighters responded to the blaze at the facility on Disco Road, near Highway 27 and Belfield Road, after it broke out around 10:37 p.m. Wednesday.

As of Thursday morning, crews were keeping the fire at bay, he added.

The fire broke out in a pile of construction debris at the facility, which is roughly 50,000-square-feet in size. Within that debris were materials like plastic, Darling said.

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The fire itself has been contained to the storage area where the material is dump by trucks entering the facility, Darling added.

“They come in through large overhead doors … they dump the material there, and then it’s it gets sorted from that point. Somewhere along the line, it caught fire underneath (the pile),” he said.

“We’re not ruling anything out, of course, until we do an investigation, but at this point no, nothing looks suspicious.”

Darling added officials have notified nearby business and Pearson airport about the smoke that may impact their operations.

On Aug. 11, 2023, a six-alarm fire at Brenntag Canada, a chemical distribution facility that blends lubricating oils, lead to runoff that flowed into the Humber and Mimico Creeks.

The spill affected multiple species and took months to clean up.