UPDATE: ‘Fire in woods’ south of High Point

(Added: Photo sent by reader)

1:55 PM: Thanks for the tips. SFD is sending more units to what’s described as a “fire in the woods” south of High Point, in a sloped area west of Home Depot. According to the dispatch, it is believed to have started in an encampment; according to what firefighters on scene are reporting, the fire has burned a structure in that encampment but is under control.

2:07 PM: The fire is reported to be out. SFD revised the address (which is approximate in a situation like this) to the 7100 block of Sylvan Way.

2:21 PM: Avoid Sylvan Way for a while – a nearby resident says traffic is backed up because of the emergency vehicles. She also says she had heard from police that this camp was to be cleared soon. Another nearby resident said it had been repeatedly reported.

Alki resident December 7, 2019 (1:59 pm)

Here we go again

KD December 7, 2019 (4:56 pm)

Yep.. 2nd. illegal campers in the pristine woods/forest park fire in two days! 😡 I went by westbound on Sylvan and called into Metro about the huge backup eastbound was going to delay the #128, as the police and fire had eastbound all cones off. btw; that photo above cracks me up. Waaaaay down at the bottom of photo is 3 tiny people all taking a phone camera shot! 😆

1994 December 7, 2019 (8:25 pm)

The green belts and parks are going to be burned up and trashed by campers. The homeless approach has not worked. The City/County should take that 100+ million a year and build some inexpensive dormitory type of housing and move the homeless into them. Clear out the tiny house villages, green belts, parks, nooks and crannies.

TM7302 December 7, 2019 (9:21 pm)

Same thing happened on November 29 around 11 pm in the greenbelt on northbound 509 just north of the South Seattle Transfer Station, large SFD and SPD response to a fire at an illegal homeless encampment. Just move along, nothing to see here…

Junction Lady December 7, 2019 (9:48 pm)

It is so hard to see the devastation to our environment that is allowed to continue and fester. The longer encampments are allowed to camp, the longer it will take to rehab the land and surrounding areas.

Brian December 8, 2019 (10:48 am)

Imagine being so dense that you blame the “devastation to our environment” on the homeless and not capital who put them there while the elite ripped the social safety net apart. Read a goddamn book.
- WW Resident December 8, 2019 (11:35 am)
  
  Imagine being so dense that you actually believe that the majority of people are homeless due to capital or housing prices being so high or Amazon (that I’m not the biggest fan of BTW) who has donated millions of dollars to the homeless issue and donated a 47,000 Sq. foot area to Mary’s Place.Let’s go take an encampment tour to all the various 400 illegal encampments and then you tell me with a straight face that these people were paying their rent and their bills and weren’t dealing with alcohol /drug and /or mental issues, and then bam!! Capitalism and Amazon came and snatched it all away. Give me a break. If rent is too high, normal people move to where it’s more affordable or and this is a crazy idea from when I was younger and couldn’t afford a place on my own, get roommates.
  
  Who’s book you reading, Sawant’s?

Mj December 7, 2019 (10:32 pm)

It’s amazing how politicians talk about equity and fairness yet fail to deliver. I remember the WSB commenters and the City going after the home owners hard after they illegally cut down trees, correctly so.

It would be good to see illegal campers damaging our parks face the same wrath and punishment. This would be equitable and fair. Why is this not happening?

Common Sense December 8, 2019 (12:40 am)

To think of all of the funding that has just been more or less thrown to the wayside. Why not just put the funding into our public housing and reopen the section 8 waitlist.With so many abandoned and or condemned lots that have just continued to remain unkept creating nuisance and health hazards increasing crime lowering property values rehab or demo and build subsidized units. Instead of these ridiculously unreal condos that even your middle class citizen couldn’t even afford.Pushing the residents of our great city further in debt trying to keep up with the gates.Seattle residents are being taxed up the yin yang . In a state where the people’s vote doesn’t mean a damn thing.I use to be very proud to say I was born and raised here but now I’m just ashamed. How much more is it going to take for us to realize that the only solution is to run them all out.

flimflam December 8, 2019 (8:29 am)

there are so many reasons that “campers” need to be removed from these wooded areas – this is one of them.

Mj December 8, 2019 (9:23 am)

Enough already, camping in City Parks is illegal and needs to be enforced vigorously.

Seriously? December 8, 2019 (9:49 am)

Instead of being outraged that homeless people are camping, in what many people here claim as their own private parks and woods – they’re public lands btw, get outraged at the local governments who allowed companies like AMAZON cheat the tax system, hold the city hostage when the thought of taxing Amazon is mentioned and the complete lack of care that people are homeless because basic, micro and studio apartments are 1300+ a month. For a vast majority of people, that’s more than half – HALF- of thier monthly pay. OVER. HALF. OF. THEIR. MONTLY. PAY. Just for a place to live. Forget about food, transpo, clothes, doctors, meds etc. After paying rent, you might be able to get food. Go to a food bank? Only if you don’t work regular weekday hours. Food banks are only open on weekdays during regular work hours. It also doesn’t help that house-flipping is legal. House-flippers are modern day carpet baggers. They’re vultures feeding on the carcass of the victims of shoddy loans and shady banks. The homeless are not the cause of this problem, they are a symptom of unmitigated greed and addiction to money – and not just money – the need to have and hoard ALL THE MONEY! When is enough enough? I can go on for weeks on how Bezos got to be obscenely wealthy by “earning” it off the backs of warehouse workers (outside of Seattle they’re not getting paid 15$/hr – and ALL of the warehouse workers are working in deplorable conditions that would make Scrooge take pause) and dodging taxes. Focus your anger and outrage where it belongs. Rant over. And don’t bother gaslighting me into a debate over semantics and impeachment – MY RESPONSE HAS ZERO TO DO WITH THAT TOPIC. This is about corporate greed. Plain and simple.

flimflam December 8, 2019 (11:32 am)

none of what you just said/ranted has anything to do with people burning down our parks.
Gene December 8, 2019 (11:50 am)

Uh huh.
meanmistermustard December 8, 2019 (7:47 pm)

Here here. You couldn’t be more right, but let’s pretend this camping issue exists in a vacuum. It absolutely doesn’t. I’ve known homeless working people in much cheaper cities than this. Roommates won’t help you afford that rent anywhere.It’s funny, that’s so close to my house that I had a panic attack and worried I left the stove on, and tried to figure out if that could be near me, but I’m across the north side of the street from Home Depot, not west. I’ve never noticed any real nuisance from camping in the neighborhood. Nothing to overreact about.

AMD December 8, 2019 (10:32 am)

This is one of the many ways “housing first” helps us all. People with housing don’t need to set fires to stay warm while looking for work or waiting for services.

Jethro Marx December 8, 2019 (1:40 pm)

Sorry, AMD, this space is reserved for wacky types only. If you’d like to comment you need to leave your reasonableness behind. The fires are either destroying our “pristine” environment, 12 square feet of invasive plants and sodden maple duff at a time, or they are the fault of Jeff Bezos and people who remodel crappy houses. Oh, and food banks- we all know how evil they are.

Lagartija Nick December 8, 2019 (1:55 pm)

Let’s get some perspective here people. No one is “burning down our parks” and small scale fires and encampments aren’t causing irreparable “damage to our environment.” Your reactionary hyperbole is nonsense and only serves to sow more division and hatred in our community.

1994 December 9, 2019 (10:20 pm)

Most people commenting would agree there should be no camping in parks, greenbelts, side of the street RVing, tiny house villages, car living…. The point is if the people ‘camping’ in these areas are not going to move themselves out of camping, then the city should construct inexpensive dormitory type of housing for them and move them into it. They should be expected to pay something from their Social Security benefits, pan handling donations, wages… they should contribute on a sliding scale to the cost of housing. Even Social Security will reduce your SSI benefit by 1/3 if you are living for free, not paying towards your room & board. Millions of dollars are being spent to support the campers in these inhuman conditions when those millions should be spent on housing.

Sorry, comment time is over.