Two restaurants in Scarborough neighbourhood torched in 24 hours

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A restaurant in Scarborough was gutted by fire Saturday morning – barely 24 hours after masked men smashed their way into another nearby restaurant and torched it with employees still inside.

And once again it appears to be the work of arsonists.

Toronto Police say the latest restaurant fire erupted in a plaza at 1190 Kennedy Rd. – north of Lawrence Ave. E. – just after 3:30 a.m.

Firefighters responded and found the business engulfed in flames, so the call was upgraded to a second alarm.

“We had some issues with crews on the roof and the roof was compromised, so we had to go from an offensive to defensive strategy,” Toronto Fire Platoon Chief Paul Versace told CP24 at the scene, explaining the roof of the business later collapsed.

CTV managed to obtain video from a security camera within the strip mall that captured two people – wearing dark clothing with hoodies pulled up – as they arrived in a vehicle, exited in the middle of the parking lot and approached the restaurant.

One of the culprits can be seen carrying a gas can.

The footage shows the pair smashing the front window of the business, making their way inside, and then exiting moments later with one of them still pouring an accelerant of some sort from the gas can.

The other firebug then ignites an unknown object and tosses it inside through the broken window while the first culprit runs back to the vehicle with the gas can.

Meanwhile, the arsonist who sparked the fire appears to be recording video with a cellphone and is so close that they appear to be hit by a ball of fire that erupts out the front window. That person briefly disappears in the flames but can they be seen running back to the vehicle.

Google Maps shows the restaurant to be Jerry’s Fish and Chips, which is listed as “permanently closed.”

CTV reports an Indian restaurant was on the verge of opening at the location – possibly as early as next week.

And the company that owns that establishment also owns the Indian restaurant that was targeted by arsonists barely 24 hours earlier, around 3 a.m. on Friday, in White Shield Plaza at Kennedy Rd. and Lawrence Ave. E. – less than 500 metres away.

And the circumstances of that blaze are eerily similar.

In that case, three masked men smashed their way inside through the glass front entrance of Sha’az Indian Cuisine and dumped an accelerant from a gas can in the dining room area before setting it ablaze.

But unlike Saturday’s fire where nobody was inside, there were employees working in the back of the restaurant at the time and they had to run for their lives out the rear door.

The culprits responsible for the Sha’az Indian Cuisine fire also reportedly used a cellphone to record video of their handiwork.

Police have so far released few details and no arrests have been made in either fire.

cdoucette@postmedia.com

@sundoucette