A close call at Kelowna’s designated outdoor sheltering site this week serves as a reminder about some of the dangers those experiencing homelessness face.
“Survival is a real thing,” said Amber Webster-Kotak, executive director for Metro Community Services.
Metro is an organization that provides day services for those who are unhoused. The services include meals plus laundry, washroom and storage facilities.
Webster-Kotak is among those in the social service sector expressing concern for those sleeping outside, especially now as the weather gets cold.
“It’s that time of year when things start to cool down at night and early in the morning and so people want to stay warm,” Webster-Kotak said.
“So, of course, they’re looking for various ways of being able to do that. And, unfortunately, some of the things that are available to folks to keep themselves warm are not tent friendly.”
On Thursday morning, a tent at the encampment along the rail trail in the downtown’s north end caught fire from a campfire burning next to it.
According to Kelowna deputy fire chief Scott Cronquist, the man inside managed to get out unharmed.
“It was originally called in by an RDCO (Regional District of Central Okanagan) animal control officer who noticed the fire, and then moved in to start suppressing the fire with an extinguisher,” said Cronquist.
“A city employee with a pressure-washer truck also happened to be going by at the same time. And he stopped to help suppress that fire.”
David Courtoreille and his partner Teresa Schreckenberg are among the roughly 120 people who sleep at the outdoor camp.
“We could see the smoke, we could smell the smoke,” said Courtoreille.
The couple said they use body heat to keep warm at night, but added that many others sleeping there use camp stoves or open flames to fend off the cold.
“Just about every night, someone’s using some sort of heat,” Courtoreille said.
And that has the Kelowna Fire Department concerned.
“It can be very dangerous, with the amount of tents set up in the temporary outdoor sheltering,” said Cronquist. “It could start a tent-to-tent fire.”
Cronquist said the fire department is trying to educate tent dwellers on the dangers of heating devices.
“Inspection officers are going down and walking through the site and just promoting with bylaw and RCMP promoting the different safety aspects of being in the outdoor shelter,” he told Global News.
Webster-Kotak said her organization is looking at increasing services to help people cope with falling temperatures.
“We currently are looking at amending our services to accommodate the demand that’s in the community,” she said. “We are looking at expanding our hours of operation in order to provide some alleviation to the street community during the day.”
Many people at the camp were displaced when the 60-bed shelter on Doyle Avenue closed in June.
A replacement shelter at an old fruit packing warehouse on Bay Avenue and Ellis Street was supposed to open by now, but the labour shortage has delayed its opening.
The shelter’s operator, the Kelowna Gospel Mission, is struggling to find staff.
It has left an unusually high number of people camping out along the rail trail, including Courtoreille and Schreckenberg, who are desperately hoping the new shelter opens sooner rather than later.
“Because once the snow flies,” Courtoreille said, “man, we’re really going to be really cold.”