On the frigid morning of Tuesday, Feb. 11, a tenant at 2779 Yonge St. smelled a strange oder in her apartment building. Although others had detected the smell, they assumed it was coming from outside, but this tenant decided it was better to be safe than sorry, and called the fire department. Minutes later, the 11 residents in her building were evacuated due to a gas and carbon monoxide leak.
“This could have been a terrible tragedy,” said local councillor Jaye Robinson.
Daniel Simon, a tenant rep at the apartment complex said that although the potentially fatal gas leak was frightening, the evacuation into the frigid winter weather could hardly phase the residents who had, at the time, been living without heat or hot water in their apartment for five days. Central heating at the complex, owned by Bianca Pollack, has been inconsistent for over a year, Simon said. Last winter, the heat went out for 12 days. Although most of the tenants now own space heaters, the fuse boxes in the apartment are so old that if too many heaters are running at one the power goes out said Simon.
Simon said the residents formed a tenant association in order to a take their complaints to the tenant board where they are petitioning for financial compensation from their landlord.
The controversy surrounding the apartment complex may have further reaching implications for Pollack, who is behind the development application for the Alaska condominium planned for the site. She could not be reached for comment.
“This carbon monoxide leak was the dangerous result of negligence,” Simon said. “And we’re worried something worse might happen.