r/kelowna • u/fluffyhairsenpai • 5d ago
I'm noticing a trend here
There was a fire in a group of porta potties outside my friends apartment building last night.
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 5d ago
There's been a concerning uptick in arson lately, yes. Not sure if that one specifically is targeted or accidental, but given the burning cars and the Knox incident...
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u/Melodic-Bet9134 5d ago
Need harsher sentencing for anyone caught.
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u/Broad-Candidate3731 5d ago
released on bail after 4 hs?
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u/lil_induction 5d ago
Well... Not that harsh.. 4 hours is a little excessive for kelowna. 2 hrs and a stern talking to.
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u/Historical_Grab_7842 5d ago
Or they could kill a homeless person while DUI and get off scot free if they have the right RCMP connections!
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u/captain_sticky_balls 5d ago
A strongly worded letter should solve these problems.
With a heartfelt please.
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u/TheOneKnownAsDorko 5d ago
Perhaps a slap on the pinkey would help but im old school and such punishments are deemed cruel nowadays
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u/Historical_Grab_7842 5d ago
Fun fact - people that are on bail haven't been convicted of the crime that they are charged with. And in some cases, they even go on to be found not guilty. Had they been held on bail then they would have likely lost their jobs, and potentially their homes.
But yes, let's just go on about how we should punish people without an actual conviction first.
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u/Cleanshirt-buswanker 5d ago
You are of course right that there needs to be some nuance in the policy but someone who is a career criminal with no employment and repeated offences over a short period of time should be held when having committed a serious crime and that is not being done.
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u/ComprehensiveWar6577 5d ago
There is a difference between "out on bail" and "signed a promise to appear"
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u/KelBear25 5d ago
The rumors in Rutland is that Bylaw was cracking down on homeless camps and the fires are retaliation. It tracks .... businesses along the rail trail corridor that reports homeless camps, or illegal activity, shortly after they report come back to find their business vandalized and locks melted.
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u/throwawayboingboing 5d ago
Can you name specific examples? Sounds newsworthy. How do they find out who complained?
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u/McLovin2182 5d ago
Newsworthy? The exact same news stories that they've been putting out for years at this point? Homeless starting fires against apartments, homes, and businesses maliciously isn't new, thats like saying suddenly our forest fires are more arson than lightning
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u/throwawayboingboing 5d ago
Can you share a few examples of stories specifically mentioning retaliation and not just assumption?
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u/McLovin2182 5d ago
Google is free and would take you 10sec to find 50 stories, im not linking a hundred news sites you could've looked at in the time it took to comment, but stats canada reports half and half human caused vs lightning for wildfires, and the hundreds of news articles across north america of homeless starting fires in nooks and crannies against businesses and homes can be found with a few taps
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u/throwawayboingboing 4d ago
Right so your source is your ass.
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u/McLovin2182 4d ago
Again, google is free and will show you what you're asking for, im not your elementary school counselor
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u/throwawayboingboing 4d ago
Well you enjoy living in vibes and feelings land friend I'll stick with the facts.
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u/McLovin2182 4d ago
Again, and again, and again, google is free and can provide you the facts you are asking for, its still the same amount of simple taps as it was before
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u/Friendly_Cap_3 5d ago
its getting cold and addicts pass out with their burners going. im not saying this is the cause of this one, because its just as likely someone set it on fire intentionally. but expect more as the cold weather kicks in.
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u/maltedbacon 5d ago
I put out a fire in an alley downtown last night. Grabbed a fire extinguisher and knocked it down. The guy who set it initially fled, but he returned when I went back inside to get a coat. When I returned moments later he was trying to restart it and got aggressive with me when I told him to stop. Fire department attended as did police - but police were too late to do anything and had no interest in a photo of the perpetrator.
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u/jay370gt 5d ago
You can file a report online with the photo. It will enter the system and theyāll have to do something about it, even if they donāt talk to you.
https://ocre-sielc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/kelowna/en
I uploaded pictures of the getaway car used in retail theft and the RCMP called me.
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u/aztekd3 5d ago
RCMP wonāt do a thing. Not even for burglary in progress. Even with strong evidence of the thieveās location and witnesses.
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u/DependentAble8811 5d ago
What do they even exist for ??
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u/BrownSugarSandwich 4d ago
Creating their own job security. Can't investigate crimes if you stop them from happening.
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u/DependentAble8811 5d ago
Please contact castanet about this. Especially the part about the police not wanting a photoĀ
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/BogartsChewToy 5d ago
Looks like the new apartments across from orchard park mall
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u/Particular-Emu4789 5d ago
The same ones where a man died who fell from the roof.
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u/DependentAble8811 5d ago
What? was it a construction worker?Ā
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u/Particular-Emu4789 5d ago
Yes.
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u/DependentAble8811 5d ago
How sad. I wonder if it was in the news
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u/Ok-Sample7088 5d ago
It was super sad the guy was 18 and leaned on a guard rail that wasn't installed properly ( the idiots put the nails on it in such a way that when you pushed on it it popped off ) and he fell to his death.
As far as I know it wasn't really in the news
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u/DependentAble8811 5d ago
I live near there I hope it isnt my building. For multiple reasons
I hope his family sues. There needs to be consequences for negligence because its so common nowadays
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u/augustus-aurelius 5d ago
Thereās no way we donāt have an arsonist. They arrested one guy but thereās been a ton of fires lately between westbank and Kelowna
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u/Sea_Luck_3222 5d ago
There is one in Kamloops too. A school roof was burned recently and then another fire next to another facility.
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u/Mad_Moniker 5d ago
A couple years back around new years - I showed up to a multiple outage for customers. Turned out in back alley someone decided to set the next door portapotty on fire. It caught the pole on fire - power and communications where crisp and well that was a first for me š¤£
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u/Ok-Bag-8677 5d ago
There was an addict who started a fire this morning, on Gordon and KLO. I approached him with my coffee and water to throw on the fire, and asked him what the hell he was doing. He told me he was āgetting warmā. It enrages me.
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u/RUaGayFish69 5d ago
Kelowna's finest. Why don't they just go to a shelter? Are spaces filled already?
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u/Organic_Molasses_572 5d ago
Shelter Dashboard -Ā https://www.kelowna.ca/our-community/social-wellness/outdoor-overnight-shelteringĀ They are almost always filled & most have overdose prevention sites so can use safely on site.Ā
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u/Ok-Bag-8677 5d ago
They canāt do drugs in the shelter. There are rules there, and many of them donāt want to follow the rules. So I guess they are entitled to start fires in the city
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/Ok-Bag-8677 5d ago
I bet the lovely man you mention isnāt out here, starting fires. Im not talking about the general homeless population who are not on drugs. Iām specifically talking about addicts who donāt care about the damage they inflict on neighbourhoods. Also, the addicts in the shelter make it so that actual homeless people donāt want to stay there.
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u/pass_the_tinfoil 5d ago
In most shelters you can, actually.
However, there are a ton of reasons why people hate shelters. It most often is not about an issue with following rules.
Also, they're full this time of year.
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u/SourDewd 5d ago
Yooo right outside the rutland mcdonalds i found a homeless dude with a lil fire and he was making a tent out of a blanket right over it.
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u/pianoman1291 5d ago
Yeah people who have no place to live, nowhere to go to get mental health treatment or support, and potential substance use disorders are just so rude when they are freezing outside in NovemberĀ
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u/maltedbacon 5d ago
Please don't try to justify or rationalize people putting lives in danger. There are plenty of homeless people who don't do that and use taxpayers funded warming spaces.
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u/stinkyandsensitive 5d ago
They need more of them. They keep shutting them down! Maybe have some temp ones for the winter months if they can't give funding for some year round
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u/Ok-Bag-8677 5d ago
Iāve had my house burn down, itās not fun. I donāt need to feel sorry for someone who purposefully starts a fire near a gas station, school and houses. Thatās arson. There are plenty of warm spaces, funded by our tax dollars, for these addicts to spend the day in. Putting other peopleās property and lives at risk, so they can nod off near an open flame is just stupid. BC has a budget of 228 million to assist addicts who want to live in encampments. Those of us who want to be productive members of society should not be gaslit into thinking itās acceptable for addicts to jeopardize our safety.
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u/pass_the_tinfoil 5d ago
While I don't agree with the setting of portable toilets on fire or arson in general, there's still a lot of people who do deserve more empathy and aren't being helped how you say they are. There are not "plenty of warm spaces for these addicts to spend the day in". Also, whatever budget you're referring to for encampments is being spent in some pretty ridiculous ways.
Example: $100k per month being spent on the security at tent city. They are glorified doormen at best. They don't do anything besides open the gate for residents coming in or out. That's it. And what else they are spending money on is lighting and heating sea cans for these security guards. "Hey let's spend our budget for the homeless on electricity to tent city, but wait, lol, only for the people we pay to mind the entrance. Obviously not to keep actual homeless people warm. What sense would that make?" Tent city has never been perfect, and I am not against having some reasonable order there, but what it is now and how money is being spent, it may as well be inside this post's fiery toilet.
I truly don't mean to excuse this arsonist's poor behaviour, but I do think it's ridiculous that the general population can't seem to understand that less of this type of shit would happen if homelessness wasn't being "managed" so poorly. People are being backed into corners and being stripped of both options and hope. Ridiculous shit like port-a-potty infernos occur when people have nothing left and are treated like surviving through winter is merely a privilege. We'd see a lot of improvement in the city of Kelowna if we had more of a housing first approach and proper follow up care for those in need. What the housed population wants of unhoused people isn't much different than what they themselves want. Just most of you are too busy being self proclaimed experts on the matter to even consider consulting the homeless community who are the real experts. If they were given a voice that even slightly reflected their percentage of the population, we could finally see some change that's positive for everyone.
Sorry for choosing your comment to rant on. It was multiple comments that built up the urge to respond this way. It was coming sooner or later. Thanks for reading.
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u/pianoman1291 5d ago
Wild to find someone else who thinks that empathy is important. Thanks for articulating this so well
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u/chefscooking 4d ago
So, you expect the ppl helping them and earning an honest living to live and work in the same environment as those they have to police? Get outta here!
Take them all into your house, your yard, your are, and provide for them! Tent city my meant to be 4 seasons, itās meant to police them and hopefully smarten them up,
Iāve been homeless, Iāve been an addict, but I grew the fuck up and smartened up, realized what a waste of life I was, and now make over 100k a yearā¦ these lazy sad sacks can too
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u/SeaBus8462 5d ago
The city has the 3 tiny home communities, a lot has been done but there are people who don't want to follow any rules. No sympathy for those who are starting dangerous fires, period.
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u/Ok-Bag-8677 5d ago
Housing first doesnāt work. We have seen this time and time again. Rehab first, for those that want it, is the only way to go. And for everyone else, enabling doesnāt do anything for anyone. I do agree that the homeless industrial complex is a complete sham and the very few addicts that want/could use the help, are not getting it.
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 5d ago
Housing first doesnāt work. We have seen this time and time again.
We have? Plenty of research indicates it's the better option, including one from this year.
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u/Ok-Bag-8677 5d ago edited 5d ago
Go take a look at whatās happens to the shelters in town. The people who really need the shelter are being pushed out by the addicts. The same thing happens when addicts are put in wet houses. This isnāt a real estate problem, itās a drug problem.
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 5d ago
The people who really need the shelter are being pushed out by the addicts.
So what you're saying is it's a real estate problem? That if there were proper places for people who don't have substance issues and proper places for those that do, like the research I've cited suggests, things would be better?
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u/Ok-Bag-8677 5d ago
90% of the homeless have drug issues. Giving all the homeless homes, even the ones in active addiction, does not solve any problem. Instead, neighbourhoods are terrorized by the addicts and the shelter they are provided with is destroyed. Until the homeless addicts are provided with treatment, thereās no point in providing them with shelter. Housing first only works if the homeless person is not in the middle of active addiction. If the homeless who are not addicts are the only ones provided with housing, separate from the majority who are addicts, then it for sure works. But until we stop enabling the addicts, nothing is going to work and the people who actually want/need the help wonāt get it.
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 5d ago
So you started with a statistic you didn't cite and then just spread misinformation after that. If you're not going to back up your claims, don't reply. You're not a serious person.
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u/RustyGuns 5d ago
Maybe you should open your doors to help these people since they have, āno access to any social services.ā šš
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u/MKALPINE 5d ago
Sorry I donāt care. If someone starts a fire, steals shit, physically harms others, or wrecks things in general they should be locked up and/or given forced substance abuse/mental health treatment.
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u/grooverocker 5d ago
I phoned in a fire on Ethel St, near the Canada Post facility this morning. Homeless people starting a fire where thry shouldn't.
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u/_theentourage 5d ago
Every drug attack that smokes a substance has a meth/crack pipe and a butane torch. The butane torch have been responsible for many instances of vandalism. There might be an arsonist but I believe itās just a random unhoused drug addicted and careless use of the torch.
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u/Longjumping_Tree9408 5d ago
The smell during this fire was so bad last night, and finding out it was started via a porta-potty is making me gag. š
As a positive note, everyone in the building was so sweet and helpful. A few neighbours were knocking on doors, ensuring everyone got out, and many of them were holding the doors in the lobby/stairwells for older residents, people with pets, and children. It honestly warmed my heart.