(Brian Burk)ĭrugs were partly to blame for the fire that destroyed Mitchell’s plywood home in 2019, he says. Soot-stained concrete marks the site where 27-year-old Skyler was killed by fire under the North Vancouver Avenue bridge. “A lot of times they left a heating source on and they have nodded off on heroin,” says firefighter Garrett Poetsch, who works with McGowan at Station 8. In other cases, unhoused people use flames to smoke or shoot opioids then pass out and don’t notice a fire spreading. They also sometimes burn garbage without properly putting out the fire afterward. Houseless people have been known to set one another’s possessions on fire, according to firefighters and Mitchell. Gas stoves and heaters-including jury-rigged devices-ignite highly flammable camping gear such as tents, tarps and sleeping bags, says McGowan, the fire captain. “It puts pressure on people who have no backup,” he says.Īs unhoused people shiver through Portland’s damp winter months, they often use portable propane heating sources to avoid “freezing their asses off,” but not everyone is careful, Mitchell says. 1 worst thing that can happen at a homeless camp.” He has been houseless for two decades and says that “fire is the No. Mitchell carries a 6-inch knife on his belt and suffers from stomach cancer and a crushing opioid addiction. When the smoke cleared, he had third-degree burns on the bottom of his feet and no place to go. “I said, ‘Call 911!’”īy that time, everything he owned-his prized work boots, warm clothes and tools-was gone. Mitchell ran into traffic and eventually flagged down a car. None of his unhoused neighbors had a cellphone to call for help as the flames raged between Columbia and Schmeer roads. “I ripped open her door and dragged her out,” says Mitchell, a rail-thin former Army officer who goes by his last name. Seattle, a larger city than Portland, saw 1,446 unhoused fires last year, two-thirds the number in Portland.Īs this city fiercely debates strategy for where people without homes should go, it’s worth considering the consequences of the camping policy City Hall has pursued since 2016-especially as climate change increases the risk of outdoor fire. It’s one of the most dangerous, underreported and resource-draining side effects of Portland’s staggering homelessness problem, advocates and officials say. It’s fatiguing to go on the same type of call over and over, with no end in sight. “But five or six houseless fires in the middle of the night is too much. Mike McGowan of North Portland’s Station 8 firehouse, which stands among the city’s worst-hit areas. “We don’t mind going on dangerous calls-we’re here to do that,” says Capt. Homeless people have been injured and lost possessions and loved ones. The blazes have killed at least nine unhoused people in the past four years, one-third of Portland’s fire fatalities.
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