REGINA - A homeless encampment in front of Regina City Hall is being ordered to leave.
Regina Fire and Protective Services has issued the order to decommission the camp effective immediately. According to a city of Regina news release, it is due to an "imminent risk to the safety of individuals encamped in the City Hall Courtyard."
“Today, to best protect the lives of those living in the encampment, and in response to an imminent risk to their safety, I’m exercising my authority under The Fire Safety Act,” said Regina Fire and Protective Services Chief Layne Jackson at a news conference at City Hall on Thursday.
He said they are advising those camp residents as well as organizers to vacate the City Hall Courtyard and areas alongside City Hall immediately.
The move comes following the latest incident at the encampment: a fire that broke out earlier in the day involving one of the tents.
Jackson told reporters Thursday afternoon that "thankfully there were no fatalities or injuries but it was a very very close call."
“Today's fire confirms that the lives of those living on the encampment are in imminent risk.”
Chief Jackson said that Regina Fire "had become increasingly concerned about the possibility of a significant fire at the encampment." According to the city, Regina Fire and Protective Services has responded to three fires at the encampment over the past five days. Jackson noted one of those fires had been set intentionally and was a criminal matter.
There had also been growing concern at City Hall about the situation at the encampment, which had set up in mid-June and had grown to over 80 tents as of the past week.
In addition to the fire hazard was a widespread concern about drug overdoses, with an overdose death happening on the encampment site the previous week.
A special meeting of council had been called for Thursday afternoon to address a city report regarding the encampment. Mayor Sandra Masters had explained to reporters they had been getting regular updates every day on the encampment, and that the risk to people in the tents and to city staff "reached a bit of an elevated level yesterday."
That led to the 24-hour notice being issued for a special meeting. However, that meeting was cancelled Thursday morning, with a lack of a quorum being cited as the reason.
That news was soon followed by a city media conference on the encampment. At that news conference Mayor Masters emphasized that the action being taken on the homeless encampment was on orders of the fire department, not council.
She said that she had been advised by Chief Jackson, "which takes it out of direction or opinion of council at this point in time, and so we ended up unfortunately in the situation where it's now at a risk to public safety."
During that news conference Jackson expressed major concerns about the fire that took place Thursday. He said the fire was a clear indication that compliance with safety regulations "was not achievable."
Jackson called the fire "significant and of particular concern to me."
"This was a fully involved fire, it consumed an entire tent and its contents. Regina Fire and Protective Services was required to extinguish the fire as it was not controllable by portable fire extinguishers... it was very lucky the occupant was able to escape. Had it occurred in a more densely populated area of the encampment, I believe it would have resulted in loss of life."
“I am convinced that decommissioning the camp is the best and only response to imminent safety risk threatening the lives of those living on the Courtyard,” said Fire Chief Jackson.
As for what the decommissioning means for residents of the camp, Jackson said residents need to start collecting their belongings and vacating the property. If they don't, "we have plans to clean up the property."
Jackson added that they have been working with Social Services and community based organizations to be on site to provide alternatives. He also said police would be a partner in the process and said their goal was "to have a peaceful and voluntary decommissioning of the camp and to provide alternatives... safer alternatives to what is occurring in the courtyard right now."
In a Facebook post Thursday afternoon, Rally Around Homelessness reported that "police are evicting camp now."
In the wake of the order, Regina City Hall is closed to the public today and Friday "to allow for the safe and immediate decommissioning of the encampment," according to the city's statement. City Hall will reopen to the public when camp decommissioning is complete and the public will be notified.
As for the cause of the fire from this morning, it is under investigation.
