TORONTO \u2014 Fans continued to gather around Drake\u2019s now-crumbling tower of ice blocks on Wednesday as Toronto firefighters attempted to melt it down due to individuals taking flames to the frozen structure.<\/p>\n
Fire Chief Jim Jessop said crews were called Tuesday evening about \u201cdangerous and unsafe activities\u201d at the downtown Toronto site of the installation, which teases the rapper\u2019s forthcoming album, \u201cIceman.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said crowds of people had shown up with flammable liquids and made uncontrolled open flames to try and melt the blocks of ice. He added the activity posed an \u201cimmediate threat to life\u201d and that crews were initiating measures to mitigate the risk to public safety.<\/p>\n
Toronto Fire said crews were hosing down the ice structure with warm water in an effort to reduce its size. They also monitored water drainage as part of ongoing operations.<\/p>\n
City of Toronto communications director Russell Baker said that because Drake\u2019s \u201cIceman\u201d tower was set up on private property \u2014 in a parking lot at 81 Bond St. \u2014 the owner did not need a permit to install the ice blocks.<\/p>\n
Baker said the decision to dismantle the 25-foot-high monument came after \u201cmultiple complaints and raised concerns for public safety,\u201d adding they received reports of \u201cseveral people climbing on and around the slippery ice structure with pickaxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters Wednesday that she agrees with Jessop\u2019s decision to take down the frozen monolith.<\/p>\n
\u201cI support his decisions. His responsibility is people\u2019s safety,\u201d she said during a news conference. <\/p>\n
When asked about the allocation of police and fire resources, Chow said the city has no plans to recoup the costs and that it\u2019s their responsibility to keep the public safe. However, she added she will need to check with the police and fire chiefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can understand why fans are excited. They want to go and find out what is that date, because that\u2019s what (Drake) said is in there. So, folks climbed it and picked it. I\u2019ve seen them doing all types of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
A city spokesperson said a Toronto Fire Service response such as this one is funded through the city\u2019s annual operating budget.<\/p>\n
Even as it suffered a slow, dripping demise, Drake fans continued descending upon the monument.<\/p>\n
Yana Kocovski and her friend Bionca Gleeson said they drove more than two hours from Kawartha Lakes, Ont., just to look at the installation.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Views\u2019 has been my favourite album since I was, like, a baby,\u201d said Kocovski.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were hoping we were going to see Drake today, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police fenced off the area around the structure from the public. Meltwater from the ice blocks pooled around surrounding sidewalks before draining into sewers.<\/p>\n
Onlooker Veer Chheda said he was disappointed to see fire crews thawing the tower.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019re wasting resources. It\u2019s going to melt in a week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t even go in. Drake put it here for us to go to. I think it\u2019s stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Student Abadir Wahba said he skipped an exam just to visit the dissipating monument.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking at our tax money being wasted,\u201d he said, referring to the fire crews tasked with hosing down the structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s for a good purpose. It\u2019s for Drake, and he\u2019s the GOAT.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drake confirmed in an Instagram post that his \u201cIceman\u201d album will be released on May 15 after Toronto-based content creator Kishka livestreamed himself finding a booklet inside the ice sculpture containing the date.<\/p>\n
Kishka was among the people who climbed the structure, some breaking off chunks with pickaxes on Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Fan Aaron Alfonso said he thinks the stunt has been very successful at promoting \u201cIceman.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at how much attention it\u2019s getting, especially in the last two days. It\u2019s all over social media, every platform,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cStreamers from the U.S., they\u2019ve all seen this and they all want to come here. We\u2019re fortunate to have this in the city. I think it\u2019s a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Mayor Chow said she\u2019s looking forward to Drake\u2019s forthcoming album.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrake is a big supporter of our city, and there\u2019s so much excitement across our city towards this new Drake album, \u2018The Iceman,\u2019\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 With files from Aaron Sousa<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Alex Nino Gheciu and Fatima Raza, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Fans continued to gather around Drake\u2019s now-crumbling tower of ice blocks on Wednesday as Toronto firefighters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-621613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}