Kamloops Fire Rescue made quick work of a small campfire next to a ServiceBC building in downtown Kamloops, Dec. 18, 2022.
Image Credit: YOUTUBE/Axel Montaner
December 23, 2022 - 12:00 PM
A Kamloops man filmed a small street fire after he spotted it near a downtown government building last weekend.
Axel Montaner was walking along Seymour Street on Sunday evening, Dec. 18, and he saw a small group huddled near a wooden fence and a campfire.
He called both Kamloops Fire Rescue and RCMP separately and firefighters showed up within ten minutes. The group of people started talking to Montaner when they saw he was recording.
"One said 'Free Kamloops,' or something to that effect," Montaner said. "They're people that are suffering and, perhaps, angry at their situation."
While it was a cold night and it seemed clear to him the people who started the fire were simply trying to stay warm, the fire was dangerously close to a wooden fence at the ServiceBC building on Seymour Street.
Once firefighters arrived, they made quick work of the fire by shovelling snow onto it.
They exchanged words with the group, which is difficult to make out in the video, but one of the firefighters warned them they can't have fires next to buildings.
He was hoping by calling police, there might be some "accountability" for a group that seemed to have little regard for the property in the area.
In 25 years living in Kamloops, Montaner said he's never seen so many tents in public areas and campfires near local properties.
Kamloops Fire Rescue has responded to numerous campfires on or near properties, and previously told iNFOnews.ca closer to the river is the "traditional" place for fires at homeless encampments.
Some fires resulted in sometimes serious burns, according to local homeless advocate Glenn Hilke. He's seen multiple people with first and second-degree burns from fires that grew out of hand on cold nights.
One man even died in a fire near Tranquille Road last month, and it's unconfirmed whether or not he lit the fire to stay warm.
"The fire situation is the biggest risk to people," Hilke said when asked about people who still aren't in shelters.
He saw people with small fires behind the Seymour Street 7-Eleven and in front of the former Sunmei bubble tea restaurant overnight on Dec. 20.
"Some people had set up a whole bunch of tarps. I could see through reflection in the front door they had an actual fire going on in there," he said. "We had to put that out."
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