The Kelowna Fire Department is thanking the public for reporting three homeless encampment fires on Saturday morning.
The first fire happened near the 2600 block of Enterprise Way, with multiple callers contacting the regional dispatch centre around 6:30 a.m.
When crews arrived on scene, they found a brush fire at a homeless camp near the creek along the rail trail, with the blaze measuring 30 feet by 30 feet.
The fire department said the blaze consumed the encampment and that all occupants had fled the scene. The fire is deemed suspicious.
“Crews quickly extinguished the blaze, with Enterprise Way being shut down for a short period of time,” said the fire department, which had two fire engines and two brush trucks on scene.
Police and city bylaw officers were on scene as well.
Roughly 30 minutes later, a second fire was reported along the 2300 block of Highway 97 at another homeless encampment.
This time, the fire was small, and around 10 people were at the camp when firefighters arrived.
There were no injuries and the fire was deemed accidental.
By 11 a.m. crews were out at a third blaze, near Dollarama on Highway 97, also relatively small.
“We would like to thank the public for notifying our dispatch centre in a timely manner,” said Kelowna Fire Department platoon captain Scott Clarke. “Your help is appreciated.”
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