Destructive encampment fires in San Francisco's Mission set locals on edge
SAN FRANCISCO -- A string of recent encampment fires have rattled residents and business owners in San Francisco's Mission District.
Several fires happened in the space of just a few days, leaving some wondering what can be done before the next fire causes more damage or worse.
"I recently moved here, unfortunately, after I was robbed in the financial district," said Desiree Barrera, owner of Proper Fox Studio. "So I thought maybe a change of neighborhood, new scenery was the answer."
Following a costly robbery downtown, Barrera moved her salon to the Mission just a few months ago. Trouble has followed.
"Came out all the way to see huge flames," she recalled. "Ran down a little bit and my car was on fire."
Her car was the only one damaged that day. It was totaled. And that was just the first fire.
"That was on Friday," Barrera said. "That Sunday there was another fire on this block that burned 11 cars."
So a dozen cars were lost in those first two fires. Fortunately neighbors managed to put out the third fire before it could do much damage.
"Yeah, so this happened on Tuesday afternoon," she said, gesturing to the damage to an exterior wall caused by the third fire. "At 3 p.m. This was number three in four days."
Fires at homeless encampments have become a common problem for firefighters in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area.
"To date, as of four days ago, we've had 681 encampment fires in total in San Francisco," explained Lt. Mariano Elias of the San Francisco Fire Department.
While the numbers are actually trending down a little bit from last year, the San Francisco Fire Department still sees about two encampment fires every day. Lt. Elias says the department is making outreach efforts to the people living in the tents along these alleyways.
"So we make daily contact," he said of their efforts. "You cannot force someone, against their will, to move, or enter a rehabilitation program. Or housing. And frankly, some people choose to stay on the streets."
And that sounds a lot like what we've heard from the city's homeless outreach teams this year:
"We have to explain to people that right now we've got rules we've got to work with," Mark Mazza with the Department of Emergency Management told KPIX earlier in 2023..
"I feel...I feel like, for the most part, people understand that people are just living. And city issues are going on," Barrera added. "I would just say that as of the past two months, the fires have been something that we have been concerned about. And we have voiced that to the city."
Barrera says she and her neighbors have been patient, but the risk of larger disaster has them determined to find answers.
"I've had a huge amount of support from different districts in the city, community, and business owners," she said. "And I would have to say everyone is on the same page as far as we all want change."
The ongoing legal case over how San Francisco handles the homeless and homeless encampments is obviously a huge part of this. The city says a judge has provided enough clarity that they can move ahead and change the way they do things.
As KPIX reported last week, the city attorney says those new instructions are being drawn up as we speak. They will be issued to crews and presumably the police sometime in the next couple of weeks.
