Pre-arrival video: Three-alarm fire at Canadian Tire garden center in Toronto.

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The clip above is the earliest video I’ve seen from yesterday’s three-alarm fire at the Canadian Tire store’s garden center at Eglinton Avenue and Laird Drive in Toronto’s RioCan Leaside Centre. It begins about four minutes before the first water is applied around 5:30 PM. Below are a few more of the many videos shot at the fire.

CBC:

Firefighters and two dozen vehicles were sent to the Canadian Tire in the RioCan Leaside Centre on the southeast corner of Eglinton Avenue and Laird Drive.

It damaged the exterior of the building and largely destroyed the garden centre, which housed an entrance into the main building.

David Gollom, manager of corporate communications for Canadian Tire, said no one was hurt and all customers and staff got out of the building safely.

Andrew Livingstone & Alex Nino Gheciu, TheStar.com:

One man who was down the road at Wicksteed Ave. said he saw a small cloud of black smoke. Within minutes, he said, the garden centre was in flames.

“It started really small, I thought it was a barbecue thing,” he said.

Fire crews using an aerial unit truck sprayed streams of water onto the roof to put the flames out or to prevent the fire’s spread.