Fire Chief Pegg has scheduled a 6 p.m. Tuesday news conference at the scene of the fire at the Badminton and Racquet Club at 25 St. Clair Ave. West. The fire, at one time rung in at 6 alarms, closed down Yonge and St.Clair to business and transit Tuesday morning. The fire was reported about 9.30 a.m. and at one point had as many as 40 units on the scene. One firefighter received minor injuries. Buildings were evacuated because of smoke. The venerable “B and R” has been a home away from home for Toronto’s elite social and court-minded society and many others as well for decades. It sits curiously well back from St. Clair and is unknown to many who pass it daily. The club is surrounded by both office and condominium towers and as seen (and heard) in the Youtube video above, the conflagration was a spectacle for many of the occupants of those buildings. As the day advanced into evening in South Bayview, the fire was declared to be controlled and a mechanized probe of possible fire remaining will be done. The approaching 6 p.m. newscasts brought non-stop helicopter activity over neighbourhoods in all directions from Yonge and St. Clair. CBC Further CBC
Some history about the building that's on fire right now at Yonge and St Clair. pic.twitter.com/0BamgiivBL
— Brad Ross (@bradTTC) February 14, 2017
