A St. Clair West badminton club is in the process of burning down

The Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto, at Yonge and St. Clair, went up in flames at around 9:30 this morning. As of now, the building is still smouldering as firefighters continue dousing the wreckage. At the height of the blaze, approximately 40 fire engines were on-site. According to the Star, surrounding buildings have been evacuated. The Racquet Club itself is expected to burn to the ground.

During the conflagration, people nearby have been snapping pictures of the damage and posting them online. Here are a few of the clearest shots.

There are lots of office buildings nearby, so many observers found out about the blaze simply by looking out their windows:

The smoke appears to have been so thick, at times, that it blotted out the sun:

The trouble was visible from quite a distance:

This mural, by Phlegm, has been playing an unfortunate co-starring role in the drama:

If you look really closely, you’ll see firefighters on the roof of the building:

Here’s a video of the flames:

And another one: