While hundreds of trash fires are started every year at homeless encampments across Dallas, officials can provide little information on the incidents or the City’s approach to them.
A trash fire on Monday night at a homeless encampment in District 12 garnered the attention of Council Member Cara Mendelsohn, who represents the district.
“I received a [message] about a fire started at a homeless encampment in [District 12] next to [apartments], homes & an @oncor substation,” Mendelsohn wrote on social media. “These #homeless are addicts & don’t want shelter. Endangered 100s. We need a change.”
After I got home, I received a msg about a fire started at a homeless encampment in #D12 next to apts, homes & an @oncor substation, called 911, Oncor & messaged @DallasCityMgr & @KBTDallasDCM. These #homeless are addicts & don't want shelter. Endangered 100s. We need a change. https://t.co/8PcBkawRSX
— Cara Mendelsohn (@caraathome) August 1, 2023
The Dallas Express reached out to Mendelsohn for comment but received no response by press time.
Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) spokesperson Jason Evans said DFR units were dispatched to a “trash fire” near the intersection of Haverwood Lane and Gibbons Drive at 9:41 p.m.
“The 911 caller reported that a homeless camp started a fire under some power lines,” he told The Dallas Express. “Unfortunately, there’s no information indicating what, if anything, was found when they arrived, but the incident was closed at 9:47 p.m.”
This is not the first time the City has failed to gather information on major trash fires at homeless encampments.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a homeless encampment in District 14 was destroyed in a large fire on June 18, but the City did not investigate the incident or attend to its aftermath, in spite of a witness statement suggesting that the fire was the result of an act of arson.
In a prior statement to The Dallas Express, DFR said, “While trash fires don’t typically cause much harm, their proximity to structures and other combustibles can make them more dangerous than anticipated.”
Last year, there were more than 1,200 trash fires reported by DFR, according to the Dallas Fire-Rescue Incidents and Response Times dashboard.
Between January 1 and February 3 this year, there were 171 reported trash fires. However, the number of incidents since then is unknown, as the dashboard has not been updated since February 3.
Several City of Dallas departments experienced technical issues in the aftermath of the alleged ransomware attack against the City of Dallas.
The Dallas Police Department only restored its daily crime reports last week. Meanwhile, the City of Dallas’ open data crime analytics dashboard continues to suffer from information gaps regarding where crimes have been happening in the city, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
However, the alleged ransomware attack occurred on May 3 — a full three months after the DFR dashboard was last updated. Thursday will mark six months since the City provided accessible, public-facing data from Dallas Fire-Rescue.
Meanwhile, residents continue to indicate in polling that they consider homelessness and vagrancy to be “major” issues in Dallas,.
In San Antonio, the nonprofit Haven for Hope has shown success by offering housing and supportive services on a single campus to avoid the challenges of having several facilities scattered throughout the city. This is achieved through a partnership between the nonprofit and the City of San Antonio.
The City of Dallas has yet to pursue this “one-stop-shop” strategy despite it polling favorably among Dallas voters.
