Fire authorities worry that homeless encampments could lead to fire risk as temperatures rise

OGDEN — After Tuesday’s fire that blazed nearby Interstate 15 in Weber County, fire officials are worried about the dangerous mix of homeless encampments and dry fuels as the temperatures rise.

City officials said homeless camps are usually set up in areas that are obscured by trees and brushes, and adding dry fuels like camp stoves could create a very dangerous situation.

That was the case for the fire just south of 12th Street’s northbound off-ramp near I-15. Firefighters said the black smoke came from a large pile of garbage and tons of propane tanks.

“Making meth or some sort of drugs, or they’re, they’re stealing copper wire, and they’re melting the plastic off of that so they can go sell the copper wire,” said Bill Morris, the city administrator for Marriott-Slaterville.

He said aside from cooking food, city officials and first responders often find drug users in the encampments, who, as a result, are not allowed into local shelters.

Morris said city crews often move them out, only to have them show up somewhere else between their city, West Haven, and Ogden.

“So you don’t know what may be in that encampment environment. And, that presents dangers to the unsheltered as well as to the firefighters,” said Ogden Fire Chief Mike Mathieu.

Mathieu said they recently started clearing trees and brush from a former encampment at the mouth of Ogden Canyon with the help of the city and landowner.

He said that tends to discourage the camps but doesn’t stop them from going elsewhere.

“We recognize the problem. We recognize there’s no easy solution for it,” Mathieu said.

Morris said that Marriott-Slaterville officials even proposed getting grants for a tiny home community to provide housing, but the idea was shot down by the Wasatch Front Regional Council.

He said the city felt like the same groups were just being shuffled around.