The Provincial Government will head back to court next week to request an injunction to shut down Tent City. This follows today’s release and review of the Fire Inspection Report completed on Wednesday, May 25.
Fire Commissioner Bob Cooper’s report found that the encampment has failed to comply with the May 11 safety order.
Issues identified include, among others: lack of spacing between tents, the use of flammable tarpaulins, cooking too close to combustibles and excessive storage of combustibles.
“There has been deterioration of the camp since the last inspection with items blocking egress pathways. Structures are larger and flow together due to flammable tarpaulins with little or no separation between the tents,” Cooper summarized.“Overall the danger to life safety created by the fire hazard is increasing and is considered to be only a matter of time before a serious fire incident occurs.”
According to CFAX Housing Minister Rich Coleman has read the fire safety report.
“The Office of the Fire Commission determined that the courthouse site is not in compliance with the fire safety order that was issued on May 11th, and as a result, he has stated in his report that the danger to life and safety created by the fire hazards is increasing and it is considered to be only a matter of time before a serious fire incident occurs.”
Coleman says housing for the campers will be made available.
“We will have a home for all these people, so it won’t be an excuse that they have nowhere to go. So, I would hope that the courts would give us the ability to go in and once and for all, take down and mitigate this camp.”
A temporary injunction was denied in April, while a permanent hearing had been set for September.
This afternoon, while reporting at the encampment, a CTV cameraman was attacked and then chased out of the park. One of the early supporters of Tent City who was speaking to reporters tried to stop the man, telling him, “Enough, we can’t have this.” The man continued to chase the cameraman from the park grounds, telling him he is “trespassing.”
