FILE PHOTO - A Kamloops fire at Strathcona Park on April 19, 2023, started with a campfire, but it was stopped as it encroached on nearby homes.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Firefighters are putting out more and more fires at homeless encampments in Kamloops and the Okanagan, but it's not clear how to curb the problem.

Like a game of whack-a-mole, they tackle one small blaze to the next. Though homelessness isn't new, the fires are a new challenge for some as fire departments seek ways to get ahead of what they broadly classify in Kamloops as "nuisance" fires.

"It's still a relatively new issue," Jeff Pont, life safety educator for Kamloops Fire Rescue, said. "Because it's new, we have to look at how to tackle it and how best to move forward and that's something we haven't articulated yet."

The causes vary from campfires gone awry to smoking materials lighting up a camp or even criminal acts, but they respond to each the same way, Pont said.

Though most common in the winter, they're sparked throughout the year. Though he didn't have statistics available, Pont said the problem is only getting worse and most often seen in central areas on the North Shore or near downtown.

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"What we call nuisance fires, that's gone up over the last two years. It's been steadily increasing," Pont said. "The issue is those fires aren't necessarily dangerous in and of themselves, but it's what those fires can lead to."

It's perhaps best seen at a West End park, just south of Overlanders Bridge, where yet another fire scorched the steep, grassy hillside.

It's the third fire at Strathcona Park in the past two years and second since February, with the 2023 fire coming frighteningly close to the homes above.

The fire two years ago prompted the Kamloops fire department to keep a closer eye on where people are camping throughout the city.

Kamloops isn't the only city faced with repeated fires associated with people who are homeless.

In the Okanagan, Kelowna's tent city approach restricts many people to a central area for their encampments. While it reduces the risk for encampment fires throughout the city, there have still been multiple blazes at the Okanagan Rail Trail camp in the past year.

Counting just how many people are without homes is tricky, but a 2023 survey in Kamloops estimated there were at least 312, while Kelowna was nearing 500 a year earlier.

With less than 100 people, the West Kelowna homeless population is much smaller, but the fire department is still facing the same dilemma.

"Characterizing these as nuisance fires is certainly correct, but it only takes a moment for it to... involve something much more serious," West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund said.

He said crews will respond to fires no matter what, but the growing homeless population in BC has Brolund watching Kelowna closely to see how it manages the problem.

"Our job is to protect the public one way or another," he said. "As frustrating as it is can be, our crews are keen everyday to make sure people are safe."

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In recent months, crews cleaned up a small but dense forested area near the Brookhaven Care Centre in West Kelowna. While the efforts saw flammable understory and litter cleared out, it was also a common camping spot for the city's homeless population.

"For us, having campfires in that area was a concern for the neighbourhood and for us," he said. "We had a fire there in May of last year that wasn't necessarily significant in the grand scale of things, but it was very scary for the neighbourhood."

Once the brush was cleared, the fire risk was reduced and it also became a less popular camping spot for homeless people, he said.

It's not just wooded areas that are a concern. Brolund said he often sees evidence of fires in the city centre where 'V'-shaped charring marks can be seen on the walls of businesses. Even a small fire is a risk in those areas especially when they're against a building.

"It's a very challenging situation. My heart goes out to them in the winter. These fires are about sustaining life," Brolund said. "But it can have very large consequences if a nuisance fire turns into something worse."

While there's sometimes serious damage beyond a camp or a hillside — like a North Shore fire in Kamloops that extended from an abandoned shed to a neighbouring home last year — there have also been at least three deaths in recent years, all in different circumstances.

The cause of the most recent fatal fire isn't known and it's not clear whether it was criminal. A man's body was discovered in a riverside encampment fire last year days after it was doused, while a body was found in a burned shed in 2022. In all three cases, firefighters only discovered the bodies after dousing the flames.

How to proactively address encampment fires, and perhaps prevent them, is something fire departments haven't nailed down while the population of those without homes keeps rising in the province.

"I think it calls for working together," Brolund said. "I certainly don't think the fire department holds the solutions. We will always be there for people in emergency situations, but I think there's still a lot of learning across the community."

From a fire department perspective, Pont, from Kamloops fire department, suggested others across the province should be working together more frequently as the issue of homelessness and encampments is common in most BC cities.

"We don't often reach out enough to hear or understand how someone may be doing it better of different, and I think that's an approach that could benefit us all," he said.

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