Officials worry over rising homeless encampment fires in Seattle
Officials worry over rising homeless encampment fires in Seattle
The Seattle Fire Department says fires are breaking out in homeless encampments, and they are becoming more numerous. This comes as city leaders work to move people off the streets, which they've paused due to freezing weather.
SEATTLE - Officials say fires are breaking out in homeless encampments around Seattle, and they are becoming more numerous.
New numbers from the Seattle Fire Department show these encampment fires continue to grow. On Thursday, another fire broke out at an encampment across the street from City Hall.
This comes as Mayor Bruce Harrell vows to clean up camps and provide stable housing.
The Fire Department says crews have been busier than ever. Their data shows that, in 2020, they put out 854 encampment fires, then 1,446 in 2021.
In 2022 so far, they have already extinguished 266 fires.
FOX 13 News spoke with the neighbors of a man whose tent went up in flames Thursday, to figure out what went wrong.
"If I had to guess, nodding off when you have hand sanitizer burning," explained Michael, an encampment resident.
"Then I heard the cop saying ‘Get out, get out, man, your tent is going to burn down,’" another resident told FOX 13, who wished to remain anonymous. "I didn’t want to leave my tent because I had all my stuff in my tent… It’s all I have, so I kind of was, um, I ended up getting out because of the heat."
We reached out to the Mayor’s Office, who said that campsite is still on the calendar – but things came to a pause due to the freezing overnight temperatures.
"Nobody chooses this situation," the anonymous resident said. "I’m just trying to make it day by day."
Right now, they say their priority is getting people out of the cold.
There is no word when the sweeps will start again.
RELATED: Seattle Councilmember suggests establishing 10 'sanctioned' homeless encampments to house 600 people
READ MORE: Washington-based companies give $10 million to fight homelessness in downtown Seattle
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