According to a report from KOIN, Portland, Oregon, City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez has temporarily suspended tent and tarp distribution, effective Tuesday, after a number of fires that have erupted in the city’s public spaces.
Gonzalez, who also acts as Portland’s public safety commissioner, stopped tent distribution within his bureaus after a fire ignited Tuesday morning under the Morrison Bridge at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which killed a dog and her six puppies.
No human injuries were reported, but authorities said the investigation is still ongoing.
In a public press release, Gonzalez said the tent- and tarp-related fires were “a dire public safety emergency” that risks the safety of first responders, the homeless, and neighborhoods.
Fire Marshal Kari Schimel said the Portland Fire Department has responded to 1,015 tent- and tarp-related incidents in the past two years.
Despite Tuesday’s decision, more than 22,000 tents have been purchased in the past two years, meaning the fires may not completely disappear any time soon.
RELATED
The Long and Short of It: Maximizing Primary Search on the Suburban Fireground
