Homeless Encampment Fire on the Westside

By an edhat reader

There was another homeless encampment fire on Walnut Ave near Carrillo. This is the second one in this area in the past two months.

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Written by Anonymous

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  1. From the NH article Roger mentioned……However, Caltrans, which has cleaned up the corridor area in the past, temporarily suspended encampment cleanups because of the COVID-19 pandemic and out of fear of spreading the virus among the vulnerable population, “unless there is an immediate safety concern,” spokesman Jim Shivers said. “The best way to prevent those fires from starting is to not have people living there to begin with,” Bertucelli said. The fear of spreading COVID-19 has complicated what the city and outside agencies are safely able to do to address the encampment fires. According to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clearing homeless encampments can cause those individuals to disperse throughout the community and increase the potential for the virus to spread.

  2. When people who should be in jail and prison are released early, with no job skills, no money, and probably a substance abuse habit, it becomes our new way of life. So far I see no effort to hold those who released these criminals early held accountable.

  3. So is Covid amongst homeless more dangerous than fires that could not only hurt the homeless but everyone around them ?
    Or is a fire in an area that recently had the largest wildfire in CA less important than spreading COVID in a town where less than 1% of the population has ever had Covid?
    The Govt is supposed to be testing the Homeless for Covid per the CA Pub Health.
    So our govt should know who has or might have Covid and then the govt is required to quarantine the individual.
    Once again our local govt being lazy or too afraid to address serious issues in our community.
    Once again, the govt aware of the dangers of fires which occur more regularly and cause more damage and cost more than Covid amongst the homeless. Yet the govt chooses to ignore the issues hoping they go away.
    Great job being leaders, not. My kid has more sense of what needs to be done to protect the greater good, the majority than our local govt.
    Seriously, if yuh loose your home I’d sue the govt, cal trans, Union Pacific, all of them fir negligence and endangering the local residents.
    When is enough, enough?

  4. And why should us tax payers pay the “maid fees” for people who do t clean up after themselves?
    The homeless person in their van on my street leaves trash outside their car, never kicks it up and takes it to a trash can. And kisses and shits in the bushes making the area unsanitary and snelling like a sewer.
    And I have to pick up after my dog?
    Seriously?
    That person can take their trash to a neighbors trash can or take the trash to a dumpster somewhere, but they don’t.
    And they wonder why we call them “bad guests”.

  5. Local government says their hands are tied by Governor’s rules and CDC guidelines – clearing out homeless encampments would disperse possible infected people. Nonsense, these folks disperse everyday to forage and beg. Neither the Governor’s rules nor the CDC guidelines are law; no legislative body passed on them. It is based on opinions and theory, not science, as they claim.
    I say the cities and counties ought to do what’s right and best for taxpayers, and ignore the ‘rules’ passed down from administrators. Just clean out the camps in the high-risk areas, then argue with the bureaucrats.

  6. The problem is our elected officials are not afraid to NOT face this. Because you keep endorsing, electing and re-electing them for doing absolutely nothing, year after year. Pick candidates that make getting rid of vagrants camps their number one priority. And who will fight every road block in the way, until this gets done. Then kick them out if they do not get it done. Quite simple actually.

  7. We have a weak city council. They should be putting the taxpaying citizens of this city first before there is a loss of life & property due to these fires. I have never seen so many fires due to homeless encampments. It’s just a major disaster waiting to happen. Good thing there has not been any big wind events.

  8. I am torn on this, as I feel terrible for the homeless… I want them to live and thrive and get better, but some of these camps are out of control. There was one on Montecito st. that lasted for weeks and weeks and there was so much trash it looked like a full dump truck had overturned and screeched along the road upside down for about three blocks jettisoning trash in all directions. It sat there forever! If we don’t do something to clear out these camps and keep clearing them out as they pop up elsewhere, we are going to have a huge sweeping fire that will destroy hundreds of homes and render hundreds more people homeless. This cannot keep happening. City Council, what say you?

  9. Ok, SDP, I’ll bite: what’s “DFP?” I’ve lived here my entire life and haven’t a clue what this is. Whatever it is, is it really that much trouble to spell it out? Not AOU are as SWTA as OMB. SWIM?

  10. CalTrans has the right to clean up the properties; just to not destroy the vagrant’s personal property at the same time. Easy remedy- provide a pick-up time and place for these items. Or else they are deemed abandoned after a certain period of time. Every excuse throw up actually has a solution. Including our mutual express contract to honor zoning ordinances when choosing to live in this town. You don’t get to come here and then make your own rules. You sign up for the laws and regulations already on the books. And that expressly includes where you can reside and how.

  11. A tent city on asphalt on federal land, enclosed fencing and Peace Corp toilets, self dug. They can figure out how to feed themselves, just like the early pioneers or the hunter gatherers who managed for thousands of years in this same area.

  12. Ok 10:46 I’ll bite- are you blind or just obsessed with my comments? Both? Almost EVERYONE in this thread is in opposition to the problems the homeless are causing not necessarily the homeless themselves. Yep I’m a just mean old anti-encampment just feet away from homes kinda person. Maybe your family can have them live in your front yard and you guys can take turns putting the fires out.

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