Calls to emergency services on the rise at Halifax encampments

New numbers from Halifax Fire confirm something a lot of people already suspected - the number of emergency calls to homeless encampments is on the rise.

Firefighters admit they're often not sure what they'll face on some of those calls, but frontline advocates say the numbers don't tell the whole story.

Fire officials in Halifax have recently started tracking and filing incidents at or near encampments in three major categories: fires, investigations, and medical calls.

"We currently do not isolate incidents by type to which a tent or shelter was on fire," said Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Deputy Chief, Professional Development, Performance & Safety, David Meldrum via email.

Information provided by Meldrum to CTV News on January 12 said, in a two year period, crews were dispatched to actual fires 30 times, and were called out to investigate another 79 possible fires or unexplained odors.

The rest were medical calls for a total 113.

A summary of emergency incidents that have happened at temporary shelters in Halifax over the last two years. (Courtesy: David Meldrum)Firefighters say these types of calls often present a unique set of problems.

"Sometimes, there's some challenges with the amount of items at the encampment and fuel sources, or heaters and such," said Joe Triff, vice-president of the Halifax Professional Firefighters Association, adding that carbon monoxide poisoning is also a concern for members, and the state of the person or people involved.

"There's a sensitive complexity to these (calls)."

Those on the front lines insist the numbers are skewed, at least at individual encampments.

"It's one person. One person calling them, twice a day sometimes," said Rick Young, who lives in Grand Parade, where fire destroyed a tent on December 9.

"It's been nine times in the last four days."

Tents set up at Grand Parade in Halifax. (Bruce Frisko/CTV Atlantic)"There's one individual that's here that's had a mental health crisis," added site volunteer Stephen Wilsack.

"That individual did get fined, and if it continues, the police are going to deal with it accordingly, but the bottom line is this is a mental health crisis," said Wilsack.

"The first responders have been phenomenal around supporting in a trauma-informed space to care for these folks," said Dalhousie social work professor Jeff Karabanow, acknowledging a growing frustration from the public that newly opened emergency shelters aren't being used.

"I'm not a big fan of encampments and living rough, where we should be providing much safer, more dignified spaces. I also can understand some of the frustration coming from the public now, whereby they're wondering why folks aren't moving into a government shelter that's been set up," he said.

"I get that. I think it's a bit more complicated. I think it's going to take a little bit of time."

There have also been some exceptional circumstances.

Barricades have been placed along the center walkway in Halifax's Grand Parade, effectively splitting the encampment in half and creating a corridor for pedestrians passing through. (Bruce Frisko/CTV Atlantic)Joel Probert says he was locked-out of an HRM shelter the other night for missing curfew, and got into trouble for starting a fire on the sidewalk, where he wound-up sleeping.

"It was minus ten, the buses had stopped running, I had no money for a taxi, and my phone was dead. Now, if you did that to a dog, you'd go to jail," said Probert.

Firefighters say they're constantly raising concerns with higher-ups, and sharing information with colleagues across the country.

They're also working within the encampments to educate residents about fire-safety, and reduce the number of calls.

"We want to make sure people are making safe decisions in hard situations," said Triff.

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