A fire at an encampment about 50 metres behind the Nanaimo Ice Centre broke out around 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. (submitted photo)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

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NANAIMO — A thick plume of smoke shot into the air from a homeless encampment early Tuesday afternoon.

Fire Rescue crews received multiple 9-1-1 calls on Tuesday, Sept. 13 around 12:45 p.m. reporting a large fire immediately behind the Nanaimo Ice Centre with black smoke seen coming from the area.

Acting fire captain Jody Lucas said once crews arrived on scene they were able to quickly extinguish the blaze.

“The camp was fully involved, nothing got into the grass or surrounding trees…so it was contained right to the material of the homeless camp, and we put it out with just the tank water that was on the truck. It was contained quite quickly and it didn’t spread at all.”

Lucus said their quick response likely prevented the fire from spreading any further.

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“Especially where it’s dense like this it can get going pretty quick, but fortunately it didn’t today, so we’re lucky.”

He said while there was plenty of debris in the area including wooden pallets and other construction material, a source of the blaze was not immediately determined.

“We didn’t see any evidence of that [propane tank explosions], it could have been bottles or something like that there’s a lot of debris down there, we didn’t come across any propane tanks or bottles like that down there.”

Lucas said nobody was around the area when they arrived, and RCMP were also on scene aiding in the investigation.

Eye witness Joe Kaila, who lives on Johnston Pl. located meters from the fire, told his neighbour to call 9-1-1 when he first saw smoke.

He credited Nanaimo FIre Rescue for arriving so quickly.

“We smelled it in the back, then I looked up and there’s a bunch of black-grey kind of smoke then a bang, an explosion from a spray can or something, and then another small couple of bangs came, and then after that nothing but the fire and smoke.”

He said this isn’t the first time recently where the overgrown shrubbery in the area along the walking path has caught fire.

“It’s scary. The City should do a little bit of trimming and cutting along the trails. People walk and they throw cigarettes butts. They used to, but I don’t know what happened this year.”

Kaila said these situations are concerning.

“The homeless were here last year, a couple of tents. This year, two a half weeks ago there was nothing, but I guess they came in two weeks… It’s scary when a fire is close to your backyard.”

Nanaimo Fire Rescue crews stage near the Nanaimo Ice Centre, fighting an apparent encampment fire in the bush land behind. (submitted photo)

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