Fire incident calls tied to homelessness are on the rise in San Diego. Last year, they made up nearly 13% of all fire-related calls.
“We’re addressing it as best we can,” said Assistant Fire Chief Chris Webber, who added that the growing homeless problem is “no secret.”
While the number of all fire calls has fluctuated over the past five years, fire calls that mentioned the homeless have steadily increased.
In 2018, they totaled about 10% of all fire calls. That was also the year Webber issued an August memo to fire personnel ordering that fire calls with a possible homeless connection be tracked with keywords and other details so the department could work more closely with police to prevent wildfires that threaten homes and other structures.