Public housing agency fined $100,000 in seniors building fire that killed four

Toronto’s public housing agency has pleaded guilty to a fire code violation in relation to a blaze at a seniors residence that killed four people last year.

The city says in a statement that the Toronto Community Housing Corporation pleaded guilty to failing to implement an approved fire safety plan and has been fined $100,000, the maximum amount allowed under the law.

The deadly fire broke out on the fifth floor of a 126-unit seniors residence in the city’s east end in February 2016.

Dozens of elderly residents were injured and three people initially died in the fire. A fourth person injured in the blaze died weeks later.

The Ontario Fire Marshal has concluded the fire was deliberately set and a criminal investigation is ongoing.

Since the tragedy, the city says Toronto Fire has inspected all of the public housing highrise and seniors buildings and will continue to do so every year.