Number of damaging fires in Los Angeles homeless camps grows
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2017, file photo, Los Angeles Fire Department Arson Counter-Terrorism investigators check a burned-out homeless camp after a brush fire erupted in the hills in Elysian Park near downtown Los Angeles. Authorities say fires linked to homeless tents and camps are raising concern in Los Angeles, where they have claimed seven lives and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to nearby businesses. The Los Angeles Times says the Fire Department handled 24 such fires a day in the first quarter of this year. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Number of damaging fires in Los Angeles homeless camps on the rise
By AP Author article
LOS ANGELES - Fires linked to homeless tents and camps are raising concerns in Los Angeles, where flames claimed seven lives last year and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to nearby businesses, according to a newspaper report.
In the three years since the city’s Fire Department began classifying them, the number of blazes related to homelessness has nearly tripled, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. In the first quarter of 2021, they occurred at a rate of 24 a day, making up 54% of all fires the department responded to.
Elected officials, homelessness providers and community members came out on May 11, to dedicate the Lillian Mobley Family Housing, “A Bridge Home” (ABH) shelter and the first of its kind in Council District 9.