Fires are known to create stress within individuals and communities, but it is how people within those communities help each other and bring awareness that makes a difference.
Opened almost two years ago, Quick Scrap Metal, located a five-minute drive away from Humber Polytechnic’s North campus, reported a fire on March 10, 2025.
The local business, located at 407 Rexdale Blvd. near Highway 27, is known to help the community by prompting the collection and processing of scrap metal materials in an environmentally responsible way.
They are committed to maximizing reusing and repurposing metal sustainably.
Angela, who asked us to not share her last name, is the account manager of the local business who helped it flourish from the start.
“In the beginning I had done like, a help to set up their dispatch, and office work, and admin, and stuff like that,” she said.
Angela received a phone call about the fire, and arrived on scene to find the blaze had been extinguished and the smoke cleared.
She said the fire was contained quickly and effectively with the help of one of the employees before officials arrived, ahead of it becoming too out of hand, using an on-site excavator.
Due to an employee attending to the fire quickly, on-site fire personnel said the flames would’ve become much larger and would’ve kept them tending to the fire all night, Angela said.
Alex Vashkevich, a Public Information Officer at Toronto Fire Services, said in an interview a vehicle caught fire.
“Toronto Fire’s Service groups were dispatched to a vehicle on fire,” he said.
Vashkevich said fire services were contacted around 7:44 p.m. with fire trucks arriving within five minutes.
“There were multiple crews from multiple districts involved in suppressing this fire,” Vashkevich said.
Angela said fire crews waited several hours before leaving the location, ensuring hot spots were doused and the fire wouldn't reignite.
The fire was apparently caused when an employee was using an excavator to work with scrap.
“I guess he touched on something and it just kind of ignited,” she said.
She said these types of events are rare and don't happen often, but “that's the kind of thing that could shut down places.”
“I mean, it's like a minor at this point, thank God," she said. "We really have to sit back and go through our safety procedures a little bit better.”
She wants to work to be more diligent in investigating what is in the piles of scrap and take a better look through them.
While the fire was minor in terms of scale, it was major for the company, and they're going to work to address it and take it as a learning opportunity for management and employees alike.
Angela says that it's business as usual and it was a minor hiccup in operations, but appreciates the diligence of the employee and Toronto Fire.
