Homeless caused three recent wildfires, San Diego says, reflecting California trend
Story by Kenneth Schrupp, The Center Square, 1/31/25
EDITORIAL:
THIS is the true cause of the California wildfires:
- Housing and rental prices are unaffordable.
- This increases the homeless population because they can’t afford a normal place to live.
- Homeless encamp in the city.
- Cities drive the homeless out of downtown because they are a nuisance.
- The homeless then are forced to move to rural or mountainous areas just outside the city limits.
- The homeless cook their food there and start a fire inadvertently.
- The fires that the homeless start to cook their meals spreads all over the county quickly during high temperature Santa Ana Wind season.
- Entire cities are then burned to the ground by the fires.
The fires that burn down large areas are a natural, but unintended consequence of the failure to solve BOTH the housing affordability crisis and the homelessness it contributes to.
Inference: The fire problem won’t be solved until the HOMELESS problem is solved. And the HOMELESS problem won’t be solved until the HOUSING AFFORDABILITY problem is solved.
See:
Homelessness: California’s Quit Emergency
https://www.cpf.org/news/news-updates/homelessness-californias-quiet-emergency
Homeless Account for 12% of Fire Calls in Los Angeles, California Globe
https://californiaglobe.com/fr/homeless-account-for-12-of-fire-calls-in-los-angeles/
BEGIN ARTICLE:
(The Center Square) – Homeless encampments were behind three wildfires that rocked San Diego earlier this month, sparking concerns that homelessness is a significant factor in Southern California’s recent blazes. The Los Angeles Fire Department has reported that 54% of fires citywide that it responded to were caused by homeless individuals.
The San Diego Metro Arson Strike Team told NBC 7 that the Friars Fire in Mission Valley, the Center Fire in Rancho Bernardo, and the Gilman Fire in La Jolla all started in homeless encampments, damaging buildings, injuring firefighters and residents, and requiring evacuations.
These fires reflect fire trends throughout Southern California that link a significant portion of fires to homeless individuals.
In 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared that a major underpass fire that shut down the Interstate 10 freeway — one of the nation’s most important and well-traveled roadways, which stretches from California to Arizona — for days was determined to be the result of “malice.” While the cause of the fire was never released, the underpass in question is associated with homeless encampments.
City Journal has reported on how the Los Angeles Fire Department spent approximately $427 million of its $854 million total on homeless-related fires.
Congressman Kevin Kiley, whose district includes wildfire-prone sections of the Sierra Nevadas and unsuccessfully called for an audit of the state’s homelessness spending, wondered why cities are not using newly granted powers to remove and ban homeless encampments from high-risk areas.
“This is absolutely unacceptable. Our victory at the Supreme Court last year enabled cities to clear homeless encampments,” Kiley said Kiley X. “Those that refuse to do so are willfully putting their residents at risk.”
Last year, federal courts overturned an earlier ban on anti-camping ordinances, allowing cities to clear out homeless encampments. Enforcement action in San Francisco which, along with Gov. Gavin Newsom, supported overturning the ban, has resulted in a 60% decline in homeless tents since their peak in July 2023.