Toronto police investigate fire at Jewish day school | CBC News

Toronto police say they are investigating a fire outside a Jewish day school in the north of the city.

They say there is currently “no evidence” the fire was motivated by hate. 

Emergency services responded to the blaze at Leo Baeck Day School on Arlington Avenue around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday. 

“The fire originated in an exterior storage shed, which was being used by an under-housed individual for shelter,” Stephanie Sayer, spokesperson for Toronto police, said in an email.

Sayer said the cause of the fire is currently undetermined, “with no suspicious circumstances noted at the scene.”

“The Hate Crime Unit has been consulted and there is no evidence that this incident was motivated by hate,” Sayer said.

A spokesperson for Toronto Fire said a window at the school was broken during the blaze, and smoke set off a sprinkler inside. 

No injuries were reported.

Early Monday, firefighters and police responded to the scene of a school bus burning in a parking lot behind a grocery store on Wilson Avenue in North York.

The owner of the bus, Alexander Roitman, told CBC Toronto other buses and vehicles parked in the same lot were used by Jewish schools in the area.

According to Sayer, the blaze is being investigated as an arson by officers in 32 Division, and the Hate Crime Unit was consulted.

“There is no evidence the incident was motivated by hate,” Sayer said in a separate email.

The bus had been parked in the location for more than 15 years and was destined for the scrap yard, according to Sayer.