NFPA Journal - Spring 2023 - 22

IN 2019,
DARNELL
PATTUM LOST
EVERYTHING
IN A FIRE.
" I will never get back what I just lost. Nowhere close
to it, " the 55-year-old Portland, Oregon, resident told
aid workers in the wake of the blaze.
Pattum was homeless at the time and living in a
tent. Witnesses told police that after Pattum left for
the day, a man approached his tent, doused it with
an accelerant, lit it on fire, and fled.
But when Pattum sought financial restitution for
his losses, he was denied. The reason, he was told,
was because he was homeless, and people experiencing
homelessness have in some cases set fires
intentionally to collect benefits. The Red Cross,
which often offers housing and other recovery
resources for people whose homes have burned in
fires, couldn't offer more than a hygiene kit and
socks, Pattum told Street Roots, a Portland-based
newspaper that covers homeless issues, in November.
Eventually, the arsonist was caught and found
guilty of reckless burning. Pattum never received
any money from the case.
Pattum isn't alone. Each year, Portland and scores
of cities around the country report thousands of
fires that impact the homeless as well as those who
encounter and interact with that community: first
responders, police, medical professionals, and relief
agencies, to name a few. And the number of those
fires is on the rise. In 2021, Portland Fire and Rescue
reported more than 4,300 homeless-related fires,
according to Street Roots-a staggering 445 percent
increase over the 803 fires that had been reported
by Portland fire officials in 2019. Similarly, the San
Francisco Fire Department reported more than
3,500 homeless-related fires in 2021, a 75 percent
increase since 2019. And in Los Angeles, homeless-related
fires jumped roughly 150 percent, from
about 3,700 in 2019 to over 9,000 in 2021, according
to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).
The rise in these kinds of fires in the United States,
experts say, is largely due to an increase in homelessness
in general, brought on in part by economic
upheaval and by an overheated housing market that
is increasingly bumping rents and purchase prices
beyond the means of more and more Americans. The
22 | NFPA JOURNAL * SPRING 2023
homeless population in the US grew from roughly
550,000 people in 2016 to more than 580,000 people
in 2020, the last year data was available. Globally,
the United Nations has described the rise in homelessness
in recent years as " alarming, " with estimates
of the worldwide population of unhoused individuals
topping 150 million in recent years-up from
about 100 million in 2005.
" Lack of shelter and affordable housing has led to
an unfortunate reality where thousands of people
are living on the streets [and must] resort to starting
fires to stay warm or cook food, " Portland Fire
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty told Street Roots.
" Those fires can grow out of control and put people
in harm's way. " Other reported causes of these blazes
include arson, smoking, and using fire as a weapon.
With fire and building code departments
often limited in how they can enforce fire safety
regulations inside homeless encampments and at
similar locations, experts say solving the problem
of homeless-related fires will largely come down to
community outreach from public safety professionals
NFPA Journal - Spring 2023

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