An encampment fire over the weekend has one McVickers Creek neighbour concerned about the safety of encampment residents and trail users.
On Sunday, Julia MacArthur said she and her wife called 911 after seeing flames from their home nearby.
“We saw a flash of orange light while we were in the living room, and we thought that maybe there was a fire so we looked outside and there were flames in the encampment that were five or six feet high,” MacArthur said.
“My wife ran outside to see if anybody was hurt, and then while I was on the phone with the ambulance and fire department, another explosion happened,” she said.
In a statement, Thunder Bay Police Service confirmed it received a 911 call regarding the fire and that the appropriate emergency services were dispatched.
MacArthur told Newswatch she saw people at the encampment trying to prevent the fire from spreading.
“There was a barbecue, and there's… many propane tanks and people were trying to drag them away, but they (were) getting really close to the flames while that was happening.”
Within ten minutes, the fire department arrived, MacArthur said.
“They came and they were putting out the flames for, I mean, at least half an hour,” she said.
When reached for comment, Thunder Bay Fire Rescue confirmed firefighters did attend the scene and found two tents on fire.
“I'm really scared for the folks that are trying to keep warm, especially cause a lot of people seem to have propane tanks kind of in the middle of things, and I think that it's really, really dangerous.”
The fires are also dangerous for people using the walking trail, MacArthur said.
“I'm looking out the back window now, and there's somebody walking their dog down there… this is dangerous obviously for folks living in the encampments, but it's dangerous for everybody else too.”
“It's really scary and dangerous to have people living outside in the winter like this while they're so desperately trying to stay warm.”
The aftermath of the fire was is still visible along the creek, MacArthur said.
“It looks like a bunch of melted tins... there's lots of char under the snow, but I haven't been down there,” MacArthur said.
“There are lots of melted plastic kind of semi-standing tents, and then a lot of other tents that are still around the encampment that weren't harmed by the flames,” she said.
This is the third time the couple has called the fire department, MacArthur said.
“Of course, we don't call for campfires because people are just trying to stay alive, but last winter I was out of town, but I was on the phone with my wife, and there was a window-rattling explosion,” she said.
“She had to respond and call the fire department, and then later on, during the melt in the spring, but not too late in the spring, there was another fire and like lots of popping and explosions in the fire then too.”
The number of fires the encampment is concerning, MacArthur said.
“We've seen smoke coming out of that encampment at times as well, even yesterday, earlier in the day, there was smoke and lots of like smelly plastic, so we assumed there was another fire, but we didn't see any flames.”