Second fire decimates a campsite in the Pines; no serious injuries reported

Mar. 20—TRAVERSE CITY — A second fire within two weeks was reported Wednesday morning at the city's local homeless encampment called "the Pines."

No significant injuries were reported from either fire, but the tents and belongings of the people who lived there were destroyed.

"This morning was such a great lost to us three," Kendra Scott said in a local Facebook group after Wednesday's fire decimated the campsite. "We will have to build all over once again with nothing. Please keep us in your prayers."

Wednesday's blaze was first reported by 911 calls from Pines residents at 7:26 a.m., according to reports from the Traverse City Police Department.

The flames were under control by 7:42 a.m.

Initial investigations showed that the fire sparked inside a tent complex because of a fire ring igniting a tarp, Traverse City Fire Department Chief Jim Tuller said.

"I think it's important to note that this was not a single camping tent, it was a kind of a put-together shelter made up of a collection of tree poles and tarps and such," he said. "It wasn't your typical camping tent — it was a pretty good size."

Tuller said that with fires inside structures like this one, that have little to no ventilation, the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning is high.

The three occupants of the structure were all safe, with one woman who was visiting her relatives who lived there reporting minor burns, according to fire department officials.

Because of the volume of first responders on the scene, one southbound lane of traffic on South Division Street was closed during Wednesday's morning commute, dispatchers said.

About five hours after first responders cleared the area and extinguished the fire, two city police cars, a city fire truck and an ambulance came hurtling down South Division Street with lights and sirens on to respond a report of a brush fire in the Pines at 12:37 p.m. Wednesday.

After searching the area for smoke and flames, first responders said they didn't see anything, and left.

On March 9, city police and firefighters responded to a similar call in the Pines. A small propane heater sparked and caught fire while the tent's owner was away, Capt. Adam Gray said at that time. No one was injured in either fire, but the cause of the fires was people heating their tents to stay warm.

City ordinances state that campfires are illegal in any Traverse City Park.

Police Chief Matthew Richmond said no citations from his officers were issued in connection to either fire.

"During the summer months and when we're out there during the winter, we ask individuals that they extinguish those fires when we see them or when we get called for complaints because they had them out there," Richmond said. "We do enforce, but not in every situation. Most people comply with it when we talk to them out in the Pines."

Issuing citations and enforcing fires in the Pines isn't the department's first step, he said. Instead, the goal is to talk to residents and get them to prevent these fires on their own.

"The last resort is enforcement," Richmond said. "Between city fire and city police, education is one of the biggest things that we can do for them."

However, when it comes to the propane heaters that are used in people's tents, Richmond said it's a balancing act.

"People are going to utilize sources to stay warm when they don't have housing," he said. "There are people out in the community that are providing these things to those individuals living out in the Pines. It's a good thing — people are being compassionate about it."

Tuller said that, with appropriate ventilation, those propane heaters can be very safe and effective, noting that they're often utilized by people ice fishing or wild game hunting in the winter.

The key is to keep the combustible materials away from the heaters while they're in use.

A local grassroots organization, "Serving Up Love," is part of a community effort to provide heat sources for Pines residents. According to their social media page, their volunteers visit the Pines weekly to help fill up propane tanks for people.

Richmond said some immediate steps for preventing future fires in the Pines include educating community members and Pines residents about heat sources and what causes a fire.

Last summer, Tuller said the risk of a catastrophic fire was high because people were burning the dry and extremely flammable lower limbs of trees in the Pines.

Consequently, the city spent $15,250 to hire a tree service to remove the bottom 5 feet of pine branches along the Men's Trail in August 2023 to reduce the number of fires in the future.

So far, Tuller said those efforts have been successful, noting that, despite the high winds, Wednesday morning's fire didn't spread to any trees or nearby brush.

"I believe the city management team, along with some other departments within the city, are going to look at that once the weather breaks and see if we can continue the clearing and thinning effort of the brush and such to minimize the possibility of a fire starting and then enveloping a large section of that property," he said.

As April approaches, seasonal emergency overnight shelter Safe Harbor is preparing for its last few weeks before closing until October. As a result, during the summer months the population in the Pines peaks to its highest numbers.

Tuller said in summer 2023 his department averaged two to six calls a weeks for fires in the Pines. "We don't see during the warmer months the use of heaters and fires for warming, because it's warm," he said. "In the summer we see a lot of open campfires on the property and we monitor them and put them out."

These recent fires in the Pines and the imminent seasonal closure of Safe Harbor are something that city staff, including police officers and firefighters, are planning to discuss at their March 26 meeting, City Manager Liz Vogel said.

"This is something that we talk about regularly," she said. "Educating the public on maybe more appropriate forms of help is going to be an ongoing discussion."

Those discussions will be shared with city commissioners at their first April meeting.

Vogel said the commissioners have already reached out to her and asked for an update on the Pines.