Riverside residents and city leaders are looking for solutions at the heels of nearly two dozen fires that have ignited in the Santa Ana River bottom, an area heavy with homeless encampments, since the beginning of the year.
Some of the fires have threatened homes in the area, prompting frustration from many.
"We definitely know that there's a large number of homeless encampments out here and it's something that we're always concerned about when we're working on fires," said Captain Brian Guzzetta with the Riverside Fire Department.
Guzzetta said they're taking up more and more of the department's resources, adding that firefighters respond to the area on a daily basis for some sort of fire.
Over the last few years, the number of river bottom fires in Riverside believed to be caused by the homeless have steadily been increasing.