Safety Concerns Boil to the Surface in Wake of Fire: Help us Please!

Residents of Tampico Blvd in District 1 are concerned the campfires in an unlawful squatters camp behind their subdivision nearly cost them their houses--potentially their lives...

Residents of Tampico Blvd. are frustrated.

A large fire erupted in a wooded lot behind their homes last week.  Before it was contained, residents with whom I have spoken were literally using their garden hoses to keep their fences and backyards wet.  They were concerned that this fire could have overtaken them.

And it could have.  It was stopped literally feet from these citizens' back fences.  They know that were it not for division of forestry personnel and ECFR response--they very well could have lost their homes.

While the fire's genesis has not been officially determined--some residents believe it was a campfire that somehow became uncontrolled.  

"Camp Fire?"

Yes, come to find out there is an "established" homeless camp in the woods of this neighborhood.  Multiple folks living there, defecating there, urinating there, and stacking garbage there.

And burning fires there.  from a constituent:

"I nearly lost my home this afternoon.  There was a woods fire that started behind our homes and ran the length of our homes to Hwy 98. There are homeless people that live in the  woods.  We believe their camp fire started the fire.  We have recently called ESCO because of them fighting in the woods, no one came.  We have spoken to the realtor who represents the owner, to no avail. The owner lives in Dallas, Texas. I called code enforcement because of the trash they have strewn all over behind our house.  They came out and posted the violation.  We nearly lost our homes.  These people have no right  to be there. Please, please do something about this. "

 followed by this one:

"It is late but I can not sleep for worrying about what could be going on  the other side of my fence.  We do have an active complaint with code enforcement regarding the garbage and trash but I doubt if the inspector walked all the way into the woods to see just how bad it is. He would not have felt safe. I saw a video done by my neighbor, Mike Cottrell yesterday.  The extent of this mess is horrendous.  There are huge piles of trash that go on forever that will require bull dozers to deal with for removal. There is human excrement, used needles, crack pipes. They have built tree stands to keep watch.   The fire hazard will get greater as we get into the summer months.  There are children that live in this neighborhood. Summer vacation is coming.  Inspite of parents telling them not to go back there some may be drawn to the forbidden. I am asking that Mr. Bergosh ask a code inspector to go ( with a deputy for protection) all the way thru this site to see how horrendous it really is. Not doing something about this is totally unacceptable. Help us, please."  

In speaking with some folks familiar with this issue--it is a known reality that these squattter encampments are quite common in wooded lots throughout Escambia County.  If they are truly ubiquitous as I am told--how can we insure they are safe and don't start forest fires?

Look--as I said on Ch. 3 yesterday on this topic--we all feel for the folks that are homeless, and we know it is a challenging issue to tackle.  There are some that have addiction challenges, some have untreated mental health conditions, some are truly down on their luck, while others remain homeless "by choice."  I feel for these folks in this condition and I will continue to work to assist however I am able and whenever I am able.

But whether you are homeless or not---if you engage in conduct that puts citizens' lives and property in jeopardy---that conduct must cease.  Your rights as a homeless individual do not allow you to harm other citizens just so you can behave any way you want to.

So I will be speaking with staff about the best way forward on this topic.  I believe it will certainly require coordination/cooperation among multiple entities including the sheriff's office, code enforcement, and social services organizations along with faith-based support groups.

This will be discussed at an upcoming BOCC meeting, as well.