Barrie firefighters doused another blaze in one of the city’s homeless encampments over the weekend.
Deputy Fire Chief Carrie Clark said the department received several 911 calls shortly before 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22 after smoke could be seen in the lakeshore lot, located between Toronto and Bradford streets near downtown Barrie.
“We responded with three trucks and a platoon chief. There’s a little bit of difficulty accessing it from either side, but we got in from the Bradford (Street) side,” said Clark. “There was some very visible smoke and we used about 350 gallons of water to extinguish it.”
Nobody was in the area when crews arrived at the fire, she noted, adding no injuries were reported and the area was cleared just after 4 p.m.
“There are often propane tanks in the area. There were reported explosions… the crews didn’t actually call it that, just the callers did,” she said. “It’s quite likely they were venting if they were in the area of the fire.”
Crews had been at the same property earlier in the day in response to a complaint about an open fire, Clark confirmed.
“They were there for a burn complaint and extinguished a campfire in the general vicinity,” she said.
Local fire crews have responded to several encampment fires in recent months, however the department does not currently track them specifically, noted Clark.
“At this point, it’s not something that we are required to isolate as a specific type of fire so we don’t have stats on them,” she said. “There is currently heightened awareness about encampments, so there is more coverage of them than possibly in the past.
"It’s that time of year where it’s getting cooler and if it rains it’s hard to dry out your stuff, so it’s not unexpected for this type of fire to occur in these types of environments," Clark added.
Clark reminded anyone having an outdoor fire to ensure there’s good clearance around all sides of the fire and no overhanging vegetation, use clean and dry hard wood and never use any type of propane device inside a shelter or structure.
Simcoe County Paramedics and Barrie police also attended the incident, which she noted is normal procedure.
On Sept. 18, Barrie fire crews responded to a blaze at the Audrey Milligan Park and Pond homeless encampment, near Dunlop and Anne streets.
Fire crews were also called to a blaze Sept. 8 at the Berczy Park homeless encampment.
On Sept. 7, Barrie crews were also called to a morning blaze at a homeless encampment near Victoria and Anne streets. It was quickly brought under control.
On Aug. 2 at 4:30 a.m., Barrie Fire had two trucks on the scene on Boys Street where a 60-by-40-foot section of the homeless camp was on fire.
On March 13, a fire at a homeless encampment near Highway 400 and Bayfield Street. A few tents burned as flames reached into the canopy of the surrounding trees and smoked wafted toward the on-ramp nearby. The highway's on-ramp had to be closed temporarily.
On Feb. 7, Barrie firefighters were also called to a fire around the same location as Sunday's blaze. It was determined to be a "temporary shelter."
There were no serious injuries reported in any of those encampment fires.
