Woman in her 90s found dead in house fire in Toronto’s east end, firefighters say

Toronto’s interim fire chief says a woman in her 90s died in a house fire early Christmas Eve.

Interim Chief Matthew Pegg says the woman was pronounced dead shortly after fire crews arrived at the residential neighbourhood in the city’s east end late Saturday morning.

He says the woman was the only person in the house, and nobody else was injured.

The cause of the fire and the extent of damages is not yet known.

Pegg says fires tend to spike in the holiday season, when people are busy and less vigilant. He says people should check to make sure all their smoke detectors are functional, though he couldn’t say whether that was an issue in this case.

Toronto Fire Services and the Office of the Fire Marshal will continue to investigate.