Mayor Seeks To Shut Down Homeless Encampments That Pose Fire Risk

VAN NUYS, CA — As the homeless epidemic collides with the era of catastrophic wildfires, city leaders are looking for ways to shutdown homeless encampments that pose a high fire risk. Mayor Eric Garcetti Tuesday announced a law he hopes will help save lives and communities, but it is likely to be controversial among advocates for the rights of homeless people. The proposed ordinance would enable police to order homeless people out of encampments located in brush areas on high-risk fire days.

"Once the ordinance is adopted ... law enforcement will be able to give direct notice to individuals living in fire danger zones that they must move," Garcetti said. "That means that on these hot red flag days that come up during the summertime and increasingly year-round, we can now take a major step toward reducing the likelihood of encampment fires like we saw in 2017 with the Skirball Fire and last month in the Sepulveda Basin."

The proposal comes as the fire risks from homeless encampments becomes ever-more serious. Last month, a fire broke out at a large homeless encampment in the Sepulveda Basin, forcing an aggressive firefighting response to keep the blaze from spreading through the community. And the 2017 Skirball Fire was sparked by "an illegal cooking fire" at a homeless encampment, spreading to more than 400 acres in the Sepulveda Pass. It destroyed a half-dozen homes, damaged 12 others and shut down the 405 Freeway.

"As it stands now, law enforcement professionals in Los Angeles have limited recourse when it comes to moving people out of brush on days when the fire risk is highest and making sure they don't inadvertently start fires," Garcetti said. "And often those individuals are homeless individuals living in encampments. That's not new in the last few years. We've seen that in the last few decades. This common-sense update to our laws will ... (give) our public safety professionals the authority to reduce the risk of a fire that could spread and keep us all out of harm's way."

The mayor made the announcement at a Van Nuys news conference designed to highlight the Los Angeles Fire Department's newest aerial firefighting assets -- a fifth AW139 helicopter that can drop up to 480 gallons of water, and an Erickson "Aircrane" the city leases annually during the fire season. Both aircraft went into service on Aug. 1.

But while highlighting the importance of the increased firefighting apparatus, Garcetti stressed the need to take proactive steps to prevent fires from occurring.

"We are here not to address homelessness but to end it, but while we work on that, these encampment fires don't just have dire consequences for homeless Angelenos that live in remote brush areas, but they also threaten to leave more Angelenos homeless when their lives and properties are consumed by flames," Garcetti said.

The proposal will have to be approved by the City Council. It's not a sure thing. The city has been accused of overreach in past efforts to discourage homeless encampments. Past ordinances making it hard to camp on public property have led to protracted legal battles. Advocates for the homeless have contended similar laws aim to criminalize homelessness when the city should be focused on solving the homeless epidemic.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.