The Toronto Fire Department began using hot water to melt Drake's massive ice installation on Tuesday night. Fire Chief Jim Jessop confirmed that he would be doing so under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act due to "dangerous and unsafe activities."
"As Toronto’s Fire Chief, my top priority is keeping Torontonians safe," he said in a statement caught by CBC News. "Large numbers of individuals [had] gathered to attempt to melt the ice using flammable liquids, and open flames in an uncontrolled environment which results in an immediate threat to life."
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Drake's "ICEMAN" Release Date
Drake unveiled the ice installation in his hometown of Toronto on Monday morning. Shortly after he announced that the release date of his new album, ICEMAN, was buried within the ice blocks, fans arrived on the scene with all sorts of tools to help speed up the melting process. Despite signs instructing them not to touch the sculpture, they went after it with ice picks, blow torches, and more.
Professor Valentin Crépel from the University of Toronto weighed in on the strategy while speaking with Pitchfork on Tuesday, admitting that it could help. “Not only does it directly remove ice by the kilogram,” he wrote. “But it also increases surface roughness, which in turn enhances both solar and convective heat transfer.” He added that it would require "roughly 70 gigajoules" of energy to melt the entire structure.
Fans eventually uncovered a blue bag containing the release date on Tuesday. Drake will officially be dropping ICEMAN on Friday, May 15. He has yet to share any additional information about the tracklist.
Drake began promoting the project, last year, by releasing three singles: "What Did I Miss?," "Which One" featuring Central Cee, and "Dog House" featuring Yeat and Julia Wolf. Earlier that year, he teamed up with PARTYNEXTDOOR for the collaborative effort, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. ICEMAN will mark his first solo album since feuding with Kendrick Lamar in 2024.
