Tent fire a wake-up call for residents of Maple Ridge, B.C., homeless camp

Residents of a homeless camp in Maple Ridge, B.C., are pledging to clear out excess junk after a fire burned through a tent early Thursday morning.

No one was inside the tent at the time, but firefighters say the flames were starting to melt the fabric of an adjoining tent, where a man was sleeping. He was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Camp resident David Cudmoresaid firefighters easily extinguished the blaze, but it's serving as a warning to everyone who lives there.

"It was a normal tent fire. What made this one a little different was the fact that there was a lot of junk at that tent. That's what we're right now trying, for the last couple of weeks, to get rid of," he told CBC News.

"Now, it's time. Now you're getting the junk away from your tent."

The campwas erected in the spring on a vacant city lot near the intersection of St. Anne Avenue and 223rd Streetto protestthe closure of a 40-bed shelterin the city.

As part of an agreement reached with the city in November to allow the camp to remain, campers arerestricted from having open flames or campfires, more than one communal kitchen, certain combustible materials, and theymust dispose of their garbage daily and space their tents at least onemetre away from each other.

Mayor Nicole Read said the fire highlights theneed for B.C. Housing to live up to its commitment to help residents meetfire safety standards after it last monthagreed to providecampers with fire-resistant tents and tarps, cold weather sleeping bags,clothingand in-tent heaters.

"Some of these people can't be expected to meet the fire safety regulations. They have mental health challenges, challenges with addiction. We need to make sure that they're given adequate support by the province," Read said.

In response to the mayor's concerns, the ministry of municipal affairs and housing said staff from B.C. Housing are on site every day to help campers with fire safety issues.

"Over the month of December, B.C. Housing has helped campers with fire safety by providing thermal blankets, fire-resistant tents, LED lighting, and by constructing a warming shelter, which will be up bytonight," a ministry spokesperson said in an email Thursday.

Residents have told police that they believe the fire was an act of arson, but investigators have yet to determine a cause.

Fire Chief Howard Exnersaid residents were lucky the fire didn't start in an area where tents were more densely packed.

"If it happened in another part of the tent city ... it could have been worse," he said.

With files from Anita Bathe