Vancouver firefighters extinguish blaze in Downtown Eastside tent as tensions remain over eviction order

Firefighters extinguished a fire in an unoccupiedtent on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Saturday morning.

It comes after a deadlineto remove tents and structures along East Hastings Street due to safety concernshas come and gone.

Assistant Fire Chief Brian Bertuzzi with Vancouver Fire Rescue Services said crews found a tent fully engulfed in flames on East Hastings Street sometime Saturday morning. Crews quickly extinguished the blaze, which did notspread to any surrounding tents or structures.

The tent was not occupied at the time, Bertuzzi said, and appeared to beused to store items.

Bertuzzi said investigators are looking into what sparked the fire, "albeit there was not much left for them to investigate it ... because it destroyed all the contents that was inside the tent."

Late last month, Vancouver's fire department ordered the immediate removal of tents and structures along East Hastings Street. The city said the orderemphasizedthe increased fire risk associated with the shelters set up along the road.

There have been several fires in the area in recent weeks, including one thatdestroyed a community churchandanother, farther east on Hastings Street, thatreduced a Value Village store to rubble.

However, the deadline to remove the tents and their occupants has passed, and no firm solutions have been announced yet for alternative living arrangements for the unhoused people there.

Prior to the order, the City of Vancouverawarded a number of community organizations combined contracts worth $50,000 to make the area safe for residents.

Brittany Graham of VANDU, acommunity organizationthat is part of "Our Streets," a block stewardship program contracted by the city to work with tent city residents starting July 11, said they were "blindsided" by the announcement and saysofficials are politicizing the issue of fire safety.

BeeLee Lee, another peer worker in the neighbourhood, saidthey don't know what the city expects from them.

"The system is constantly retraumatizing people because they have this looming date over their head that keeps changing and isn't coming," Lee said.

In a statement Friday, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said he "was working with non-profit housing and social service providers" to find accommodation for the unhoused people in the neighbourhood. He called on higher levels of government to assist with more funding.