A visibly frustrated fire chief stood before reporters Monday afternoon and gave his latest update: the fire that displaced hundreds of residents from two East York highrises is still burning. Four days later. And they are running out of ideas.

In his 30 years of service, Toronto fire Chief Jim Jessop says he has never encountered this type of fire , crawling through the walls, invisible to the naked eye, and spreading.

“If you can imagine a cigar burning slowly up and up without visible flames, this is what my staff have been dealing with since Thursday afternoon,” he said.

Holding up a piece of combustible particle board from the top of one of the buildings, the chief said the material — placed between an expansion joint to which firefighter access is “next to impossible” — is the

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