Four major fires, each inside abandoned buildings, happened in just in the last 30 days.
On December 21st, a vacant home on 5th and Ralston goes up in flames.
January 6th, an abandoned house on Neil Road is charred from the inside.
January 14th, smoke billows out of an unoccupied structure on 7th and Sutro.
Then Thursday, January 18th, a fire tears the roof off of the old Bishop Manogue building on east McCarran near Mill Street.
In each one of these cases, the Reno Fire Department says a homeless person looking for warmth and shelter, started a fire that gets out of control.
"There's been about a dozen over the past year and really it's just an opportunity," said said Reno Fire Chief Dave Cochran, "Somebody sees an opportunity to occupy a building, get out of the weather, find a place with maybe a little shelter and warmth and they take advantage of it.”
Pat Cashell, the regional director with the Volunteers of America, says he isn’t surprised to hear that homeless individuals are seeking warmth in the cold weather. Saying, the men's shelter in Reno has been at full capacity all winter.
“We're lacking housing, so I think people are just trying to survive,” said Cashell.
Survival can quickly turn deadly. Due to the severity of the recent property damage, Cochran says the individuals who started these fires are fortunate to have escaped unharmed. He's also encouraging the property owners of vacant lots to better secure their buildings.
"That may mean boarding up doors and windows so people can't get in,” said Cochran.
Cochran says some of the responsibility falls on the city, to give the homeless population more options to find a safe place to sleep.
"We're expanding the homeless shelter, we have a temporary shelter there, we're expanding the overflow shelter, so we're looking for long term solutions,” said Cochran.
Cashell added, "We have a warming room upstairs and we'll find room for you, you don't have to go and stay on the streets in Reno, you just don't, I’ll find places for you.”
For more information or to donate to help those in need in our area click here to visit the Northern California and Northern Nevada Volunteers of America website. Or call them at 916) 265-3400.
