A large, makeshift shelter was destroyed by fire on Monday morning.
Photo credit: Global Okanagan (with permission)
November 30, 2015 – 3:26 pm
KELOWNA – A candle in a makeshift homeless shelter is the likely cause of a fire that damaged a commercial building earlier this morning.
At around 6:50 a.m. on November 30, when the temperature in Kelowna fell below -6 degrees Celsius, local firefighters were called to the makeshift building in an alley behind an office building on Leon Avenue.
Platoon Captain Eric Simpson says they found a shelter made of wooden pallets that are on fire. A shopping cart and numerous personal items were also destroyed.
A passerby told the firefighters that there was only one man there and that he had been using it to keep warm the past few nights.
“There were some personal items, but we believe it was used as a shelter for the homeless based on testimony from passers-by (firefighters),” says Simpson. “It looks like (it was started with a candle), possibly to keep warm, but no one was on the scene to interview him.”
The fire destroyed the shelter, but the damage to the commercial building was minor.
Photo credit: Global Okanagan (with permission)
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the publisher, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015
