A three-alarm fire broke out Sunday evening just after 6 p.m. at the Paramount Fine Foods location at Erin Mills Town Centre in Mississauga. Despite the large extent of damage left on the building, fortunately no one was injured.
By the time multiple fire crews on scene at Eglinton Avenue West and Erin Mills Parkway were able to control the flames the building was already destroyed, shown completely engulfed by flames and surrounded by heavy clouds of dark smoke via multiple images and videos shared online from witnesses and fire crew.
Mississauga Fire Chief Deryn Rizzi said in an interview with CP24 that this is defined as a large loss fire, with over $500,000 worth of damage, meaning the Office of the Fire Marshal had to be notified as a result of the extensive destruction.
According to Chief Rizzi, those inside the building were unaware of the fire due to its location above the drop ceiling by the roof. They were only made aware once a witness entered the restaurant to warn them of the flames overhead, which were very visible from the outside. Shortly after crew arrived at the scene to put out the fire and retreated outside to continue to fight it, the building's roof collapsed.
Due to the unique structure of the building and the high heat conditions, crew had difficultly putting out the flames and were forced to shift from the offensive to a defensive approach for their own safety, where multiple aerial trucks were set up and 11 trucks ended up at the scene working to put out the fire.
"Though we sadly lost our Erin Mills location in a devastating fire, we are very relieved everyone was evacuated safely," said the restaurant group through Instagram. "We are very touched by all the support and outreach we have received, and we will rebuild what was lost."
The cause of the incident is still yet to be determined, as are the next steps for the Middle Eastern food chain, but Paramount Fine Foods founder and CEO Mohamed Fakih told CP24 that all he requests at this time are prayers and continued community support.
"We don't need anything from the community. We're always here to serve this community, and we will continue doing that."
With over 70 locations worldwide and multiple in the GTA, you can support the restaurant group at this time by ordering takeout via pick-up or delivery from their website.
