A fire at a tent encampment under the Macdonald Bridge on the Halifax side sent huge plumes of smoke over the harbour Tuesday during the morning rush hour.
Halifax fire District Chief Dave Slaunwhite said there were no injuries reported. The ramp onto the bridge was closed to traffic as crews put out the blaze.
“What they had was five tents that were in close proximity that burned, along with a bunch of garbage,” he said.
“There was nobody that was around the tents. So talking to some other people that were there, they said that there was no one around for a couple of days.”
He said crews were able to quickly put out the fire, but it’s still unclear what started it.
“Whatever burned, there was nothing there to even investigate. It was burnt to the ground. There was nothing even there to look at,” he said.
Slaunwhite noted the fire service hasn’t been called to this particular encampment often.
There have been growing concerns about people sleeping rough in tents as cold weather approaches, from a safety perspective.
A new shelter opened its doors in Dartmouth last week that offers 50 beds, but not everyone was convinced people would be eager to move in.
Some people who stayed in an encampment on the Halifax side told Global News they planned to stay where they were, and that it was impractical to ask encampment residents to relocate across the harbour.