New video has surfaced showing the exact moment the roof of Zanzibar Tavern, a well-known adult entertainment complex, erupted in flames early Sunday morning. The video was shared on Reddit on Monday, by a user who says they had been recording the construction of a neighbouring condo. The footage shows the flames first flickering at around 5:50 a.m., growing minute-by-minute until the fire ravages the club’s roof, looking like a pulsating orange light with thick, dark plumes of smoke billowing around it. Though the smoke is dense, fire crews can be seen arriving at 359 Yonge St. shortly after 6:06 a.m., heading into the building before two fire trucks pull up out front. No injuries have been reported. The three-alarm fire “compromised” Zanzibar’s structure, as Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop said the damage is “substantive.” “The fire was automatically escalated to a second alarm and the incident commander made decisions that, to be very honest, saved the rest of this block,” Jessop told reporters late Sunday afternoon. “I’ve been upstairs. I’ve seen the damage.” The City of Toronto issued an unsafe building order after the fire tore through Zanzibar. In the notice, the club is deemed “unsafe” as a direct result of the fire with the damage creating a condition that could be hazardous not only to the health or safety to those who regularly use the building, but also those who are outside of it or “whose access to the building has not been reasonably prevented.” The order requires Zanzibar to immediately retain a professional engineer to evaluate the safety and structural integrity of the building to determine whether the building could collapse any further following the fire. The club also needs to provide a preliminary report to the city detailing the damages caused by the fire so they can work on repairs, which must be supervised by the engineer. “Upon the elimination of all unsafe conditions, a final report by the professional engineer shall be submitted to Toronto Building,” the order reads. Zanzibar Tavern’s owner, Allen Cooper, told CP24 over the weekend that it appears the top floor of the club might be gone. “We’ve been around since 1960. My dad started the place. Bigger and better is our attitude,” Cooper said on Sunday. “We can always hope for the best, build it better than it was.” The origin, cause, and circumstances surrounding the fire are still being investigated. With files from CP24’s Andrew Brennan and Joanna Lavoie
