Residents at Kelowna’s tent city say latest fire highlights need to activate warming tent

A tent fire astatine Kelowna, B.C.’s outdoor sheltering tract is again highlighting information concerns during the coldest weeks of the year.

Fire crews responded to the tent city on the Okanagan Rail Trail connected Sunday day to douse a blaze that erupted successful oregon adjacent 1 of the tents.

While an nonstop origin isn’t known, the Kelowna Fire Department confirmed fires on that conception of obstruction way are a regular occurrence arsenic those sheltering extracurricular effort to enactment warm.

“You conscionable benignant of marque bash with with what you have,” said Aaron, who lives astatine the structure city. “I mean, immoderate radical tally propane conscionable to support warm, you know. Some radical person to usage candles.”

But this twelvemonth for the archetypal time, among the dozens of tents on the Okanagan Rail Trail, there’s a caller tent, a overmuch bigger 1 that was erected astatine the opening of December.

It’s a warming structure to support radical harmless during the bitter cold.

But different than being utilized to service meal and dinner, the structure is closed off.

“It’s decidedly not being utilized arsenic a warming tent,” Aaron told Global News.

That’s due to the fact that there’s a somesthesia threshold to activate it and truthful acold this play it hasn’t been acold enough.

“Not yet,” said Nick Bonnett, bylaw services manager for the City of Kelowna. “Fortunately, the upwind has held disconnected and truthful we person not had to usage that arsenic a warming overnight abstraction yet.”

The warming structure tin accommodate up to 50 radical and is simply a level 2 successful the city’s acold upwind effect strategy.

It volition beryllium activated when the temperatures deed minus 10 for a continuous play of time.

“We’re looking for continuous temperatures of minus 10 oregon colder to execute immoderate of our utmost upwind protocols,” Bonnett said. “And that’s due to the fact that what we’re doing present is truly an exigency involution and truthful it’s truly lone successful these utmost cases are we offering thing for those that are successful request and are susceptible outside.”

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The warming structure is simply a concern betwixt BC Housing, the metropolis and the Gospel Mission, which says is an important portion of the utmost upwind response.

“I deliberation the warming structure besides shows the assemblage down determination that determination are radical that are looking aft them during the colder months, ” said Asna Memon, outreach services manager for the Gospel Mission.

“So it’s not lone adding a payment to their carnal health, but I deliberation it besides speaks measurement to the intelligence wellness and the isolation.”

While the warming structure is acceptable to beryllium activated astatine immoderate moment, those astatine the structure metropolis consciousness it shouldn’t beryllium sitting bare portion radical conflict outside.

“That’s the thought down it erstwhile they enactment it up, was to beryllium for the radical that don’t person immoderate benignant of vigor sources, you know, radical that are successful request of being warm,” said Aaron.

The warming structure is simply a aviator task and volition beryllium reviewed astatine the extremity of the wintertime season.