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The Great Fire of Toronto of 1904 was the second great fire that destroyed a large section of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 19, 1904.
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The fire was first spotted at 8:04 p.m. by a constable on his regular street patrol. The flames were rising from the elevator shaft of the Currie neck wear factory at 58 Wellington Street West, just west of Bay Street (now TD Bank Tower). The factory was situated in the centre of a large industrial and commercial area. The exact cause of the fire was never determined, but a faulty heating stove or an electrical problem is suspected.
The fire began on the evening of the 19th and took nine hours to get under control. The glow of the fire could be seen for kilometres in all directions. Firefighters from cities as far away as Hamilton, Ontario and Buffalo (a long term friendship was established between the Queen City of New York and the Queen City of Canada, given their nicknames) came to Toronto's aid. The temperature that night was approximately -4 degrees Celsius with winds at 48 kilometres per hour with snow flurries.
The fire destroyed 104 buildings, and claimed one victim; John Croft. A lane-way between Bordon and Lippencott streets was named in his honor. It caused $10,350,000 in damage and put five thousand people out of work, at a time when the city only had 200,000 inhabitants. As a result of the fire, more stringent safety laws were introduced and an expansion of the city's fire department was undertaken.
It was the largest fire ever in the city, although a previous large fire had consumed many city blocks on April 7, 1849 when the city was much smaller and constructed mostly with wood.
The legacy of this fire includes Call Box 12, which was used to sound the alarm and now is the name for the volunteer canteen truck supporting Toronto Fire Services today.
Even 17 fire halls, two engine companies and one hose company proved to be no match.
Friebe, Marla. A History of the Toronto Fire Services 1874-2002. Toronto: City of Toronto, 2003.