Police chief calls for coordinated Edmonton effort to shut down encampments after deadly fires
In the wake of recent deadly fires at encampments around Edmonton, never mind inevitable frigid weather, Edmonton's police chief said at a meeting Thursday that a coordinated city effort is needed to "take down" camps.
"Quite frankly, it's just not safe to be camping outside right now," Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee said to the city police commission following a discussion of an EPS crime-reduction program. "How many fires do we actually have to see here? The encampment strategy needs to be, we need to get enough resources to actually take them down and then figure out if those that want to be housed can be housed, can some of them be sent home, etc."
On the weekend of Nov. 4-5, two people died in separate tent fires in the city's core. This past Friday, police on duty at the downtown Herb Jamieson Centre attended a large fire among nearby encampments. One person was taken to hospital with burns after several propane tanks exploded.
Early Monday, police and firefighters responded to reports of multiple explosions and someone screaming in an alley near 112 Street and 105 Avenue, where they found a man engulfed in flames. He is in critical condition in hospital. Another man, too, is in hospital with less serious injuries from the incident.
During the committee meeting, David Jones, the city's branch manager for committee standards and neighbourhoods, said the number of encampment complaints the city has received so far in 2023 is about 14,800.
"That's astronomical numbers," Jones told the committee. "Last year, we smashed all records with 9,000 complaints, and we're looking at almost doubling that again this year.”
The Nov. 4-5 deaths are the first reported from fires at encampments this year. In 2022, Edmonton police said seven people died in encampment fires.
McFee added he thinks it's important for the garbage generated by camps to be cleaned up quickly.
"It's as essential as whether you have the fire (department) there and the police to ensure safety, or you have the peace officers, or you have AHS/EMS there, but it's also important to clean up this stuff, and it needs to be relentless," he said. "It can't just be once and it moves a block ... I think we're just going to continue to push each other to actually deal with this."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Sask. police seize 1.5M pieces of evidence, lay 60 more charges in child exploitation case
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
'Inappropriate' behaviour shuts down Dublin to New York City portal
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
Bouchard scores late to lift Oilers over Canucks, tie series
After a final frame that saw the visiting Vancouver Canucks claw their way back and tie the game late, a point shot by Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard with 38 seconds left (until what seemed like certain overtime) iced the 3-2 victory for Edmonton to knot the series.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker rails against Pride month, working women in commencement speech
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker railed against Pride month, working women, President Biden's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and abortion during a commencement address at Benedictine College last weekend.
King Charles III unveils his first official portrait since his coronation
King Charles III has unveiled the first portrait of the monarch completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image that depicts him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
Full List Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Alberta announces the 4 health agencies that will replace AHS later this year
The province has released more information on its plan to break up Alberta Health Services and replace it with four sector-based health agencies.
Biden administration moving ahead on US$1 billion arms package for Israel, AP sources say
The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than US$1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, two congressional aides said Tuesday.