Amid plunging temperatures, there is renewed concern about the safety of people sheltering in about 100 tents along East Hastings Street in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The city was under an arctic outflow warning Tuesday, with overnight lows of -11 C forecast, followed by daytime highs of -10 C on Wednesday, with wind-chill values making it feel as cold as -25 in the coming days.
In July, Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry ordered the removal of built structures from the street over fire and life-safety risks. Since then, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service (VFRS) spokesperson Capt. Matthew Trudeau said the number of tents had halved.
Amid the frigid weather, firefighters have been patrolling the encampment, looking for fire hazards and giving out information on alternatives to stay warm.
“We’ve been responding all morning today (to things like) a bunch of combustibles lit on fire, flames against buildings a couple feet high for people trying to stay warm,” VFRS spokesperson Capt. Matthew Trudeau told Global News.
“We had just up here on the corner on the weekend, someone with a butane device, it ignited, exploded on them, we had injuries and burns to them, that was from inside a tent. We did have a significant tent fire in Crab Park on Saturday … since the chief’s order we have had 35 fires in tents so far.”
Trudeau said firefighters and city workers have been encouraging people to make use of community centres during the day and warming shelters overnight, as an alternative to candles, generators or other potential sources of combustion.
For some of those taking shelter on the street, however, the street remains preferable to other alternatives.
One man, who identified himself as “T” said he tried to get on the BC Housing waiting list, but was told it was a 10-year wait.
He said sleeping in a tent was better than the shelters.
“People are coming in, they’re coughing, they’re snoring, they’re hawking up loogies, some of them are pissing themselves while they’re sleeping,” he said.
“I’d just rather go outside and stay outside.”
T has taken to heating his tent with tea lights, or sometimes by burning hand sanitizer, options he is aware carry a risk.
“It is a fire hazard; I have watched a lot of my friends accidentally light their tents on fire and next thing you know, they’ve got two and three-degree burns on their hands, on their feet, on their face, arms, legs, you name it,” he said.
Further down the street, a woman who gave her name as Sarah was also using sanitizer to stay warm, squirting the gel from a bottle onto the pavement and lighting it on fire before crouching next to the flames.
Sarah said police and city crews took her tent away in the summer, and she’s recently been banned from her boyfriend’s building.
“It’s so freaking hard out here right now. I’m freezing, everything I own is wet,” she said.
“You can go in the shelters, yeah, if you are lucky enough to get a bed. If you don’t get a bed you’re just stuck outside.”
Nicole Mucci with the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver said such weather is “life and death for community members who are experiencing homelessness.”
Those living in tents or without any shelter face dangers ranging from hypothermia or frostbite to the risks of using candles or heaters to stay warm, she said.
Meanwhile, the snow and bitter cold could force those living in poverty and precarious or inadequate housing to forgo groceries in favour of turning on the heat or buying a pair of boots that doesn’t leak, Mucci said in an interview on Tuesday.
The mission’s 92-bed shelter was overcapacity Monday night, but no one was turned away as 25 centimetres of snow blanketed the region. Typically, the shelter hands out warm clothing or sleeping bags once it reaches capacity, she said.
Trudeau said firefighters and city workers will continue to patrol the area, with safety as their primary focus.
That means ensuring entrances to buildings and fire hose hookups remain clear, and removing potentially hazardous items like propane tanks.
And he urged anyone sheltering on the street to get inside.
“Understandably people want to stay warm,” he said.
“If you want to stay warm, we’ve got buildings and people who are offering to help.”
-With files from the Canadian Press