Homeless Encampment Fires

What’s going on, services that OlyMAP provides, and what you can do to help.

On Sunday night, a large fire broke out in a wooded area near Capitol Lake, between the ramp from the 101 to northbound I-5 and the Capitol Boulevard overpass. Despite the difficult terrain, Olympia Fire Department put out the fire after about 2 hours. No injuries have been reported. As reported by The Olympian and NewsTalk KFLD, the fire appears to have started at a homeless encampment, but per Tumwater Fire Chief Brian Hurley the cause is still under investigation.

NewsTalk KFLD, a radio station based in Pasco, WA, incorrectly reported that the fire occurred at the Jungle. Locals will know that the I-5/US 101 interchange where the fire occurred is across town from the Jungle. Unfortunately, the erroneous NewsTalk story was pushed to the popular NewsBreak app that comes pre-installed on many cell phones. To be absolutely clear, this fire did not occur at the Jungle.

In a separate incident, the Thurston Co. Scanner, News, & Weather Blog reported that Olympia Fire Department responded to flames and smoke seen at the Jungle on Monday, with concerns about a possible structure fire. Firefighters could not locate the fire. We were not on the ground at the time, but it seems likely that Jungle residents contained the fire themselves.

What does OlyMAP do to help?

While OlyMAP staff are not first responders, we do our best to take proactive, preventative action to reduce the chances of fires breaking out in the first place. We recognize that people living in homelessness are going to take actions to make sure they can survive from day to day. We strive to provide options for meeting those needs that are safer and more sustainable than other options people might feel forced to take. To that end, we have worked in collaboration with the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCAA) to develop our outreach program with an eye toward fire safety. We provide these services to reduce the need or motivation to burn unsafely:

• Providing survival and warming supplies such as blankets, sleeping bags, hand warmers, propane/butane cook stoves, and tents. This helps reduce the need to burn for warmth or to cook.

• Providing weekly trash removal, plus trash bags and gloves to whoever needs them. We have heard from our participants and frequently observed that a lot of unsafe burning occurs because people lack the means to remove their trash and resort to burning to get rid of it. By providing a safe, accessible way for participants to get rid of trash, we reduce the motivation to burn it as well as remove a potential fire hazard.

• Providing fuel such as clean, dry firewood and propane. Even though our other services reduce the need or motivation to burn, people fundamentally need ways to generate warmth to survive, and we do our best to help people meet that need in the safest ways possible.

  
  

We frequently receive questions from people who have concerns about the fire safety risks associated with our propane refill program. We are very aware of the potential hazards of a propane tank exploding, but the reality is that a propane tank exploding is most likely due to gas leaking from a faulty valve, or to being exposed to intense heat (i.e., an out-of-control fire that had already started before the tank exploded). To reduce the chances of a faulty tank exploding, our staff check every single tank we fill to ensure that the tank is in good working order. Our staff’s work is then double-checked by the propane vendors we work with. If we find someone has an expired or faulty tank, we safely dispose of the tank and supply the participant with a tank in working order (if we have one available). This way, we do our best to ensure that the propane we provide is not the cause of a fire while removing potentially dangerous tanks from encampments as we encounter them.

It’s also worth mentioning that, at present, these services are heavily focused on the Jungle. Additionally, our propane refill service has been paused since July 1. Whatever the cause of the large fire on Sunday night, it occurred at a location that does not currently receive any of the OlyMAP services described above. The Jungle fire from Monday is unlikely to have been caused or worsened by propane provided by OlyMAP.

What can you do to help?

Donations: OlyMAP is always accepting in-kind donations. If you have firewood, 16oz propane cylinders, handwarmers, blankets, tarps, fire extinguishers, or anything else that seems like it might be useful to someone living outside, we will get it into the hands of someone who needs it. To donate, email donations@olymap.org.

Volunteer: If you want to get your hands dirty, we are looking for volunteers to help with our weekly trash removal service or to transport and process firewood. For more information on volunteering, email people@olymap.org.

Report: If you witness hazardous burning occurring that doesn’t warrant a 911 call, you can submit a complaint to ORCAA. ORCAA collaborates with OlyMAP to respond to encampment-related burning concerns, and the only way we can respond is if we know about it. Complaints let us know where we need to direct our attention. https://www.orcaa.org/public-resources/file-an-air-quality-complaint/