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Encampment fire near I-5 in Seattle brings total to 60 in 2023 alone

Feb 24, 2023, 2:17 PM

encampment fire...

Encampment fire near Mercer Street and I-5 (成人X站 7)

(成人X站 7)

Another encampment burst into flames Friday morning near Interstate 5, adding to the 59 additional encampment fires recorded by the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) this month.

WA Rep. fed up as homeless authority refuses to sweep encampments

This fire occurred just a few days after the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) informed parents of John Stanford International School through a letter about its plans to clear the Ship Canal Bridge encampment, according to .

The Ship Canal Bridge encampment鈥 located across both sides of the I-5 express lanes near 42nd Street 鈥 has been documented as one of the most dangerous encampments in the region, with six reported fires over the last month.

The encampment houses up to 25 individuals, according to WSDOT officials.

鈥淟et鈥檚 start at the premise of they鈥檙e breaking the law,鈥 Rep. Andrew Barkis said on The Jason Rantz Show on AM 770 KTTH last week. 鈥淭hat seems to be the key point that we seem to forget here. They鈥檙e trespassing, they鈥檙e breaking the law. Let鈥檚 start there. And then we can wrap around every type of service under the sun to try to help the people, which we should.

鈥淚t is very clear that shelter, congregate shelter, any type of housing is what needs to be done to move the folks out of these encampments,鈥 Barkis continued. 鈥淪o you start one by one, and you do the job. WSDOT has made contact with 500 some odd camps. They鈥檝e only cleaned up between seven and 10, or 11? In the same timeframe, hundreds more have formed.鈥

Despite the high amount of encampment fires,聽聽zero major incidents were linked to the fires. According to SFD statistics, 126 total encampment fires have occurred this year. The average of 2.29 encampment fires per day for 2023 is a slight decrease from the 913 encampment fires recorded last year (2.5 average per day in 2022).

G&U: Let churches continue to help the homeless

The Washington state Legislature has a bill,聽, in committee that would ban encampments within 1,000 feet of schools. The bill would require local governments to remove encampments near schools, banning tiny home villages, RV-safe parking lots, and temporary shelters within the 1,000-foot zone.

This bill comes as a response to the Ship Canal Bridge encampment in particular, as parents, teachers, and local leaders voiced their concerns over safety for the students at John Stanford International Elementary. There have been two reported shootings within the encampment.

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Encampment fire near I-5 in Seattle brings total to 60 in 2023 alone