An encampment fire on Pearl Street August 2 took out a tent and some bush, but no injuries have been reported, Deputy Fire Chief Nathan Melin told Sudbury.com.
Melin said the fire was called in around 7:30 a.m. with reports of a tent on fire.
"When we responded, there was nobody present,” said Melin, “and there was a small tent on fire, which we extinguished.
There are now 200 people living in 44 encampments across Sudbury, said the city in a release last week. That’s more than double last year, with 2023 showing 77 people in 44 encampments.
Raymond Landry of the Homelessness Network told Sudbury.com that the encampments are growing due to the lack of affordable housing. The Homelessness Network has only been able to house two people so far this year due to the lack of options.
Melin said there is an ongoing risk of fires due to the current weather conditions, and the ever-present concern of leaving a fire unwatched.
“There is a concern, especially when they're in forested or wooded areas due to the dry climate out there with dry grass and bush out there, which fires can easily ignite on that and then spread very quickly as well,” said Melin. “And then part of the concern, as well, is when the fires are unattended, there's no supervision to it.
He said the longer it burns without anyone noticing, the worse the spread can become.
“If it does get out of control, nobody's making that phone call and to 911 until such time that a bystander sees smoke or flames and then is calling in, so there's a delay in getting that 911 call made so that we can respond to it,” said Melin. “And especially in the wooded area with dry conditions, fire spread will happen a lot more rapidly.”
To put it simply: “If there’s smoke, give us a call, we’ll go investigate it.”