Winnipeg homeless camps getting burn barrels

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic service is starting a pilot project next week that will see 15 burning barrels sent to homeless camps across the city in an attempt to prevent a repeat of a fatal explosion at a camp in February 2021.

The service spent just over $1,000 on 15 of the 200-litre steel barrels with holes drilled in the bottom.The pilot project between the fire service and community groups including Main Street Project will see will see the barrels distributed across Winnipeg next week. The barrels will be picked up in the spring. 

"We realize that fires are going to be occurring in Winnipeg in the winter months for warming purposes, and that's very understandable," said Scott Wilkinson, assistant chief of fire prevention and public education with the WFPS.

"We have a fire prevention officer who works with the encampment population to try and advise them of fire safety, but these staff cannot be there all the time. We still have incidences where there is fire spread to shelters and other properties, so this is designed to hopefully mitigate some of that risk."

In February 2021, an unidentified person died in an explosion at an encampment along the riverbank near Higgins Avenue and Annabella Street. Wilkinson says he hopes this project will prevent more tragedies like that.

We have a fire prevention officer who works with the encampment population to try and advise them of fire safety, but  ... we still have incidences where there is fire spread to shelters and other properties, so this is designed to hopefully mitigate some of that risk.- Scott Wilkinson, WFPS spokesman

In an email to city staff, chief administrative officer Mike Jack wrote that burn barrels are a safe option for the camps "as the fire is in open air, contained, and the emission of embers and sparks is reduced."

"We've amended WFPS processes to allow burn barrels in temporary encampments without the need for a permit, provided they comply with existing standards," the email says.

Those standards include only having dried wood burning in the barrels. The barrels themselves must be placed a minimum, distance away from any shelter. Otherwise, firefighters will extinguish the  fires.

While there's no data yet on 2022, Wilkinson says, the service went to 181 fire calls at encampments in 2021.

"The idea is to involve ourselves with the community directly and kind of meet people where they," he said. "We're always trying to find other ways to address some of the safety and risk concerns we find, and this is just one."

The service will document where the barrels end up and keep tabs on how they're being used to see whether the project will be continued.