Second building burns down at Moses Lake homeless camp
A second outbuilding has burned down at a makeshift homeless camp which has at one time or another housed a majority of Moses Lake’s homeless. The individual who had been sleeping in the building was not injured.
MOSES LAKE — A second outbuilding burned to the ground early Tuesday morning in a homeless camp established on a property owned by local landowner Mick Hansen.
There were no reported injuries.
Shortly before 4 a.m., a man sleeping in the building woke to the sound of a fire raging, he told the Herald on Tuesday. Unable to put out the fire, he walked toward the larger building where the majority of the homeless stay on the property, when a loud explosion shook the ground, he said.
The explosion was caused by propane tanks as the fire reached them, according to the campers. Individuals staying on the property said that the camp’s entire propane supply had been stored in a single location, all of which ignited in the ensuing fire. Campers are asking for donations of propane and fire extinguishers.
The property has become a makeshift shelter for, at one point or another, the majority of Moses Lake’s homeless population. With no warming shelter open this year, Police Chief Kevin Fuhr said Tuesday that he hopes the current situation can last until warmer weather arrives in April, and that city officials are in talks about possible alternatives for next winter.