U of T hosted tenants after a six-alarm fire at 200 Wellesley St. rendered 1,200 Toronto residents temporarily homeless on September 24.

U of T’s exam centre at 255 McCaul St. was used to shelter some residents, as well as the Wellesley Community Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital, and a Toronto Community Housing seniors building on Christie St.

The decision to lend the exam centre to the victims of the Wellesley fire incident came from Paul Young, Vice President of Research, who was the on-call executive at the time the fire broke out.

“U of T has a plan for eventualities like this,” said Young, referring to the Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Management Plan released in May 2009.

According to the plan, the role of on-call executive requires a senior representative of the university to be available at all times in the event that an emergency situation arises. The position rotates between university executives on a weekly basis. If the incident is non-life threatening and does not require the attention of the campus police, the on-call executive often handles it.

The Wellesley fire proved to be such an incident for Young; he was contacted by Toronto Community Housing for help.

“We didn’t take very long to respond as the people involved were the most vulnerable,” he said. “It was our civic duty and the decision was easily made. We were delighted we could help.”

Students who had exams scheduled at 255 McCaul on Saturday, Sept. 25 were relocated to the Sanford Fleming Building.

“I went down there on Saturday morning and met with several people. The Red Cross and Social Services were there and had the beds set up. The children were sleeping and the parents were awake. Donuts and coffee were in supply,” he said. “There was some rearranging of things because of the exam scheduled there, but the students were great and agreed to move.”

The 100 or so residents were moved from the exam centre on Wednesday to alternative locations.

Firefighters have described the incident as one the worst apartment fires they have seen. Fourteen people were hospitalized including three children after the fire broke out at 5:00 p.m.

The apartment building, which consists of 711 living units is located in the centre of St. James Town, Canada’s most densely populated community.

According to a Toronto Star report, the fire is believed to have started in unit 2424, belonging to tenant Stephen Vassilev.

Vassilev, who said his apartment was full of law books and legal papers pertaining to a dispute over 18 townhouses he once owned in Elliot Lake, suggested the fire was a result of arson.

As of Friday, Oct. 1, tenants were allowed back to their homes in groups. The first groups comprised of 200 tenants. It is expected that the second group scheduled will include 140 tenants.