Fresno firefighters are kicking off what could be another record breaking year.
“Last year we had a huge record number of fire, everything, homeless specifically we saw like a 95% increase,” Shane Brown with the Fresno Fire Department said.
The new year is not bringing any relief. Brown said so far there have been 223 fires in the city and 123 have been caused by homeless activity — A 71% increase from last year. He said many times they’ll respond to the same buildings over and over, putting everyone at greater risk.
“Those buildings, like I said, once they’re impacted by fire the structural members are weakened, the roof is more prone to collapse, the floors often times they collapse, they have holes in them,” he said.
The surge in homeless related fires comes on top of an already busy time. Several fires broke out Monday.