Fire has destroyed the Garden Centre at Canadian Tire at Laird Drive and Eglinton Ave E. The blaze broke out during rush hour Monday creating an almost impassable traffic jam along Eglinton and on Laird Drive. Evan Ross, a Canadian Tire employee, said he had just sat down for lunch when a colleague from the Garden Centre came running into the main building to say there was a fire. Then the alarm went off and the sprinkler system began to spray water on millions of dollars of inventory. Ross ran outside and snapped the above picture just as the fire was getting started. Later, lower right, he sent The South Bayview Bulldog a shot of the aftermath. Video was taken a short distance away from outside Pier One showing the plume of black smoke that rose above the neighborhood. There were no injuries. Ross said he and his friends think the fire originated near a cardboard box inside the centre and they guess the cause is careless smoking. Firefighters are fortunate that propane tanks shown in this picture survived the fire. Ross said he and others had just loaded many bags of charcoal and other flammable inventory into the centre for the night. YouTube video
