In a considerably secluded and darkish location beneath the Vancouver Conference Centre, a pot on a makeshift range, a can of Stagg chili and a lone toothbrush are among the many charred stays of a tent hearth which claimed a person’s life on Christmas Day.
Firefighters say they responded to an space close to Waterfront Highway and Canada Place shortly after 9:00 a.m., for a report of an individual on hearth.
“There was a affected person mendacity on the roadway who was nonetheless smoking and nonetheless on hearth,” stated Asst. Chief Keith Stewart with Vancouver Hearth Rescue Companies. “We used an extinguisher to extinguish that affected person and tragically the affected person succumbed to his accidents.”
Stewart stated the Dec. 25 hearth was an unintended tragedy, sparked by cooking supplies.
The deadly blaze was the third reported hearth at a tent encampment in Metro Vancouver over an roughly 24-hour interval.
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, a motorhome erupted in flames at a tent encampment off Grandview Freeway simply east of Boundary Highway on the Burnaby-Vancouver border – in a big hearth fueled by a number of propane tanks.
A tent additionally caught hearth on the morning of Dec. 24 at a small encampment close to Marine Drive and Knight Road in South Vancouver.
Happily, no accidents have been reported in both of these fires.
“There’s no hearth safety in these tents so when hearth does occur it normally spreads quickly and shortly,” Stewart informed International Information in an interview Tuesday.
Lincoln Drummond, who lives in a cargo trailer on the positioning of the fireplace close to Grandview Freeway, says the motorhome resident escaped and is now residing in one other RV at a special location.
He added he stays protected through the use of a generator and electrical warmth as a substitute of gasoline energy in his tarp-covered dwelling – however is saddened to be taught somebody died.
“It’s horrible that you must like dwell in these situations today,” Drummond informed International Information. “It’s simply so costly to dwell, it’s a disgrace actually. Waste of life.”
ABC Metropolis Coun. Peter Meiszner says the Christmas Day dying is particularly tragic as a result of “there are different choices for individuals.”
As of 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, Meiszner stated there have been some 200 shelter areas accessible in Vancouver, with individuals capable of name 211 to get related.
“A mat on a flooring, I do know shouldn’t be a long-term answer nevertheless it’s higher than a tent,” Meiszner stated. “Clearly there’s extra want than areas so we actually want the federal authorities to be extra concerned, B.C. provincial authorities is a superb help however we are able to’t do it on our personal.”
Because the housing disaster persists, these with no dwelling will proceed to make troublesome, typically harmful and generally lethal selections.
No less than two individuals have been nonetheless tenting beneath the Vancouver Conference Centre close to the scene of the deadly tent hearth when International Information visited the world Tuesday.
The Vancouver Police Division has not launched any data on the identification of the one who died.