Portland Fire and Rescue responded to nearly two thousand fires in homeless communities in 2022.

That accounts for more than 40 percent of all the city’s fires.

Portland Fire Commissioner Rene Gonzalez says most of these fires are caused by homeless people cooking a meal or building a fire to stay warm, but it’s draining critical resources.

“The volume is a major concern for our community, as well as the conditions it exposes our firefighters to,” he said.

These conditions include firefighters being threatened, assaulted, and even attacked by dogs – not to mention the sheer danger of responding to a fire at an unknown location.

“All of our training is built out of science, what the structure is made of how airflows work,” said Portland Fire & Rescue PIO Rick Graves.

“You don’t have science within these houseless encampments. It is a dangerous, difficult situation that we respond to.”

Both Gonzalez and Graves said the solution involves cutting down the number of unsanctioned camping sites. There are currently about 700 of them. Without sanctions, they say the city cannot regulate fire safety protocols.

“The city is moving rigorously to set up sanctioned campsites but it’s going to take a while to make a meaningful impact on the sheer volume that’s out there,” said Gonzalez.

Adding to the frustration is a high volume of repeat fires in the same areas. Gonzalez says the fire department is going to have to start considering which fires to prioritize.

“We’re going to have to make some tough decisions about which fires we respond to because every time a firefighter is responding to one of these, you take them off the line to respond to CPR calls, your child’s choking, your father is suffering from a heart attack, someone you care about is overdosing,” he said.

“When a firefighter is responding to one of these fires, they cannot respond to those other serious scenarios. It is a true public health crisis.”