A fire at a homeless camp in the woods next to the corner of Gaglardi Way and Lougheed Highway early Friday morning highlights some of the dangers of sleeping outdoors in Burnaby, which does not have a year-round homeless shelter.
“What can you do,” assistant fire chief Erik Vogel said. “The crews respond, … (they tell) the guys where the shelters are and this is where you can go - maybe they don’t know. But if they don’t go, we can’t do anything.”
It’s impossible to say how many Burnaby fires are connected to homelessness, because the firefighters don’t keep track. For example, Friday morning’s fire was described a bush fire, with no mention of homeless people.
The NOW inspected the burn site and found multiple items, including bedding, children’s toys, empty alcohol bottles and suitcases, burnt cooking utensils, a tent and a melted tarp. The area with cooking utensils and pans was particularly charred. Neither firefighters or the NOW actually encountered any people on site.
Vogel provided anecdotal information on examples where fire crews responded to fires connected to homeless people. One involved two people and a fire on Burnaby Mountain, and Vogel also pointed out last February’s case where a man ran out on Highway 1 with burns on his body. The fires can sometimes start from cooking or people trying to keep warm.
Vogel said he hopes his crews leave people and let them cook. “But we have to investigate complaints, especially in summer time. That’s our biggest concern. These guys are burning in there, and it could turn into a forest fire,” Vogel said. “Hopefully, the guys will let them be, but some captains have gone in there with guns blazing and blasting out fires. You know they’re going to start it back up because they’ve got to cook to live, but we’re just worried they’re not being safe.”
Burnaby has no year-round homeless shelter, but there is an extreme weather shelter that opens in winter when the weather is cold or wet enough to be a health threat. Lookout Emergency Aid Society runs it, but it’s basically mats on a church floor, and people can only stay there from 7 p.m. to 7 a. m. the next day. Lookout manager Dave Brown said they can sleep about 20 people per night, and since they’ve opened a few days ago, they’ve had “very few” people there. Meanwhile, neighbouring Vancouver is experiencing a shortage of shelter spaces.
“We need a facility where people can go and be stabilized. Give them a place where they’re safe and can get warm, … and they can move forward,” Brown said. “It’s frustrating. People get sicker, and people get afraid, and they’re losing their homes like I’ve never seen before.”
The idea of having a homeless shelter in Burnaby has long been a point of contention with Mayor Derek Corrigan, who insists the responsibility to provide housing rests with the provincial government.
“I’m not responsible for social services. The fact that people are homeless is a result of the poverty that’s created by the provincial and federal governments, not by the cities,” he said.
The NOW called the province to request an interview with Housing Minister Rich Coleman. Click here to see what he said.
