New video has emerged of a fire that broke out in Kensington Market on Saturday, creating an absolutely terrifying scene in which somehow, thankfully, no one was injured.

The incident took place in Bellevue Square Park place early in the morning before most of the usual weekend crowds were in the neighbourhood, with emergency services arriving on the scene around 8:30 a.m. to find locals already attempting to control the situation.

The blaze began in the small tent encampment that has taken over a portion of the public green space in recent months, echoing the many encampment fires that the city saw during the pandemic.

Video shows a fire breaking out at a tent encampment in Kensington Market's Bellevue Square Park over the weekend 😨 #Toronto #KensingtonMarket #BellevueSquarePark #Fire #Encampment - 📹 jennngeeee pic.twitter.com/TUUMq2cmoU

— blogTO (@blogTO) November 27, 2023

The clips, submitted by a bystander to blogTO over social media, show firefighters attempting to quench the blaze from the adjacent street, with a cluster of tents and belongings at the centre of the inferno.

At one point, new sparks go flying as the flames ignited more of the encampment and climb concerningly toward utility wires overhead.

Bikes, furniture, and more can be seen going up in a plume of thick smoke as the responders slowly work to extinguish the blaze, which is largely centred in one area, though another smaller fire can be seen off to one side. 

FIRE:
Dundas St W & Agusta Ave
8:28am
- reports of fire at Bellevue Sq Park
- numerous tents on fire
- unknown injuries
- all roads surrounding Bellevue Sq Park are closed
- Police & @Toronto_Fire are o/s
- delays in the area
- consider alternate routes#GO2720673
^se

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) November 25, 2023

Police reported that numerous tents were on fire and that the surrounding streets were shut down as a result. Power to the area was also at one point lost, but restored some 12 hours later.

The emergency was met with divided reaction from the public, some of whom felt that the fire was interestingly timed given that it was revealed a day earlier that the City was planning to clear the larger homeless encampment just up the street at St. Stephen-In-The-Field Church.

Others noted such incidents are known risks of tent communities — which is the key reason the City moved to clear the St. Stephen-In-The-Field property, citing a dense, excess accumulation of combustible material that posed an urgent fire risk and threat to life and safety. 

Then what explains the convenient political timing of the fire, Sherlock? @TorontoPolice

— Adam Golding (@adamgolding) November 26, 2023

Rev. Maggie Helwig of St. Stephen-In-The-Field told CTV News Friday that in addition to the planned clearing, the church property was also due to be fenced off to stop additional makeshift communities from popping up on the site, which had recently been eyed for a community garden.

The proposed garden was also met with a mix of mostly opposition and some support, with advocates saying that it was just a creative, sneaky way to evict houseless residents from the area.

Other locals noted that a garden would be a good solution to the encampment, which they said was prime grounds for drug use, noise, fighting, trespassing and debris, and thus a danger to residents of the neighbourhood.

cannot possibly open enough shelters to accomodate the expected growth of homeless pop. rent needs to come down

— playerTwo (@playerTwoQ) November 25, 2023

The encampment that was consumed by the blaze was said to house some eight people and had been a source of multiple other fires in recent months.