Let's talk about the tiny home burning in Moccasin Flats
Ahead of Groundhogs Day, we repeat the converation
A correction on one of the quick news items yesterday:
You said "The school district is changing catchment areas, the most notable of which are redirecting some students from Duchess Park to DP Todd, making the need to eventually expand DP Todd’s capacity more urgent."
That catchment change - moving Spruceland and Edgewood students from Duchess Park to DP Todd - actually happened in 2020, to address capacity issues at Duchess Park. Previously, in 2017, Duchess Park closed catchment. One of the changes that took place last night was to re-open the catchment, so that secondary school students could now choose to go to Duchess Park even if they don't live in the catchment, or attend the feeder schools.
Sarah Holland, school trustee
Whoops!
You can read more about the catchment issues here.
Also: School district approves Japanese cooking, culture course.
Let’s talk about the fire at Mocasin Flats
Last week, one of the tiny homes that had been built by volunteers for the homeless encampment burned down. I have seen multiple comments and posts on social media taking this as confirmation that the building of the tiny homes is a bad idea and constitute a negative.
As always, the question that has to be asked in the situation is if the tiny homes didn’t exist, would the fire risk be reduced?
And another way of asking that is — were there fires in homeless camps before there were tiny homes?
The answer:
It goes on. In fact, the risk of fires at encampments was one of the reasons the city attempted to shut the camp down in the first place — a bid it ultimately lost in court, and which I have written about in these pages before. To quote a previous newsletter:
This is from an affidavit filed by the city’s chief fire prevention officer in support of that case:
“Fires and propane heat are used in these areas under tarps with very little consideration for fire safety. This is a clear risk to the occupants.
“These large tarped areas have fortified their boundaries with chain-link fencing which occupants removed from a nearby fence. This makes accessing and entering the tents difficult for first responders. This is a public safety risk in cases of emergency, particularly drug overdoses.
“The occupants are using pallets and other wooden material to build walls and barricades around their tents. These pallets are unfinished wood products and are combustible with little exposure to fire or heat. Many of the tents are in close proximity to these pallets.
“There has been evidence of burning of outdoor fires.”
The judge in the case did not disagree with this assessment, but observed the following:
“I am prepared to take judicial notice that Prince George can be very cold in the fall and winter, and that people with nowhere warm to stay must find ways of keeping warm to stay alive. I accept that if the occupants of the encampments are enjoined from using those encampments, they will present the same risk of fires, wherever they move to, unless they move to alternate shelters.”
Translation: As long as people are living outside in Prince George, they will need to find ways to stay warm. The risk of fire remains until better, safer ways of keeping people warm over the winter months are in place.
One thing that was good to see is that point was included along all of the local reporting I saw on this fire, mostly through quotes from volunteer Phil Fredriksson. For example, in CKPG:
“The shelters are full. People need a place to go, whether it was a wood structure or a tent, bottom line is they all catch fire. The three approved products for this this encampment are cardboard, plastic and nylon, and those are far more dangerous, I think, than wood, because the damage that happens from those when they burn and melt and fall on somebody are awful, that causes a lot of damage. And we’ve seen that with some of the residents here over the last couple of years that have been in fires, in tents, and have burned 80% of their body because of it,” he answered.
Frederiksson has always maintained that this tiny home project is a temporary solution, as he says people need to be sheltered now, and hopefully a longterm solution can be worked out that will eventually make the tiny homes not needed.
“I think that’s something that we need to change in legislation, is we need to have adequate housing for people before they’re pushed into encampments. We need to find other solutions and there needs to be either utilities put in place down here so people can use safe sources of heat, or we need to find adequate housing for these people.”
Quick news:
According to a news release, “former Prince George City Councillor Cameron Stolz will be holding a press conference to make a significant announcement” today. I’ve heard rumours — either way, watch this space (or one of the local news outlets that doesn’t only dispatch once a day).
B.C. Stats is predicting we’ll hit more than 108,000 people by 2046. On the other hand, a primary narrative of the city at this point is we were supposed to hit more than 100,000 twenty years ago and failed to do so, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Average rent in the city increased by nine per cent, while vacancy dropped by one per cent, in 2023. One thing to note in those stats is they include pre-existing agreements so prices for new rentals is likely higher, on average.
The Cougars are back in the number one spot of the Western Conference.
B.C. United is on a campaign for more resources for the hospital.
More than 550 people working on construction of gold mine south of town.
I wanna see pink and purple fog. On that note, today’s song:
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The fact that Cora was able to get out safely, after the fire started, highlights the increased safety of the tiny homes over tarps, pallets, and boxes. Anything that slows the progression of the fire (eg the homes are small, fairly sealed boxes, which limits the availability of air needed for combustion vs a tent enclosure that isn't sealed at all and melts rapidly) will limit injury and death to occupants - a major win for folks who have moved in to one of these structures.
Thanks as always, Andrew :)