They woke up with a bang and weren't able to get back to sleep.
Not with an inferno burning close to their homes, threatening to destroy their properties.
Some residents in the Weston and Rogers Road area spent the day in forced evacuation, after a five-alarm fire at a nearby junkyard sent them fleeing into the early morning darkness.
It took 150 firefighters, 40 trucks and hours of intense effort to beat the blaze back. It started at 5am and within minutes, acrid black smoke was drifting over the neighbourhood. It could be seen for kilometres as crews desperately tried to gain the upper hand.
They finally succeeded in the mid afternoon and those who were displaced were told to return.
But not everyone felt comfortable coming home. Residents in a seven-kilometre area were warned to keep their windows closed, turn off their air conditioners and stay inside because of the potentially toxic nature of the smoke.
"There are tires. There's rubber insulation on wiring. There's inside parts of vehicles," reveals Deputy Fire Chief Pat McCabe. "It's all kind of rubbish that are stored in these junk yards."
And crews were confronted with another dilemma in this fight against the flames - water pressure was too low at one point, so they had to cut through people's lawns and use every available hydrant to make sure hoses could reach the scene.
After four long hours, the bulk of the blaze was out. But that still left a haze of dangerous toxic pollution blanketing the scene for blocks.
Environment Ministry experts were there all day testing to make sure it was breathable.
"The sampling that they've done so far has confirmed that there's no health threat at this point," confirms McCabe. Experts say it's now safe for residents to open their windows again.
Amazingly, there were no injuries.
There's no indication on what started the blaze and damage is expected to run into the millions.
"We've had scrap yard fires for years and years, you know. This isn't unusual from time to time to have a fire in a scrap yard," McCabe concludes. "This just seemed to get out of control at the start. Most were small little fires and we just contained them."
Community reaction
Why are these kinds of fires so hard to put out?
Click on the photo gallery below to see images of the fire sent to us by viewers.
So what constitutes a five-alarm fire?
David Sheen of Toronto Fire Services outlined the staged response to blazes
1st Alarm
2 pumpers, 1 aerial truck, and 1 district chief
If it's downtown or involves a highrise building, a highrise truck is used. If it's a working fire an air supply truck, which provides breathing cylinders, and a heavy rescue squad are called.
2nd Alarm
5 pumpers, 2 aerials, 1 squad, 1 hazardous materials truck, 2 district chiefs, 1 platoon chief, 1 air supply vehicle, and 1 incident command vehicle.
3rd Alarm
8 pumpers, 3 aerials, 1 squad, 3 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 air lights, 1 hazard, 1 command vehicle, 1 division commander,
4th Alarm
11 pumpers, 4 aerials, 1 squad, 4 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 air supply vehicle, 1 hazardous materials truck, 1 command vehicle, 1 division commander
5th Alarm
14 pumpers, 5 aerials, 2 squads, 5 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 division commander, 2 command vehicles, 2 air supply trucks, 1 hazardous materials vehicle
"Plus, at that level you're also getting other support staff," Sheen said.