Engine 18 responded to a car fire just after 1:30 this afternoon at 6th Ave NW and NW 47th. When they arrived, they found this van engulfed in flames.
A Seattle City Light worker says he saw smoke coming from the van so he called 911. Moments later, he says, the van was in flames. We spoke with Steve, a friend of the van owner who says the owner lived in the van with a friend. He tells us that the owner had a propane tank along the side of the van that did not explode. No word on what caused the fire or if there are any injuries.
Van goes up in flames
Sounds kind of like the start of a Cheech and Chong flick.
Glad no one was hurt, but I'd bet that many of these “residential vans and RVs that litter the neighborhood are unsafe. I've seen several with gas cans and propane tanks on the ground underneath them.
I seem to remember the Seattle Police telling a community meeting to call these in every time you see them because they are health/sanitation violations. But if all that happens is that they get a parking ticket, what's the point?
Anyone have suggestions on how to get them to move on from the residential streets? Maybe a big empty field (in another part of town, of course) where they can all set up?
I just noticed several vans and campers parked between Mud Bay and Safeway. What can we do about them?
Perhaps we could support more shelters so people aren't stuck with their only options being living in their vehicle or sleeping on the sidewalk?
If you look around the area between 15th and 3rd, south of market street down to the water, there are at least 15-20 vehicles that people appear to be living in. I haven't done a full count but at times it feels like there might be 30-40.
In the meantime, why doesn't the DSHS office allow them to park in their parking lot? …maybe they should all do that just to show how big the problem is.
BTW – Northlake Way, the side streets along the Burke Gilman Trail, parts of Gilman Ave, parts of Seaview Ave, 14th Ave in Ballard, etc. have all been places where people have been living out of vehicles off and on for years.
Right now we have the bible-thumper bus back in Ballard. This guy is here every summer just in time for the Fremont Solstice Parade so he can tell everyone that they are going to hell, and he parks his bus in Ballard within a few blocks of the Fred Meyer / Trader Joe's area every year and he lives out of that bus.
I realize that some folks are just noticing how much homelessness we have. I've been watching these folks just be pushed from one place to another for years. Pushing isn't the answer. I'm not even convinced that the problem is that much larger today than it was 4 years ago.
I've read numerous stories in Seattle media that talk about the fact that many/most of the people who sleep outdoors choose to do so rather than go to the shelters (which are not usually all full). Certainly you could say that about those who have acquired an old van or RV to live in. Apparently, the overnight shelters aren't attractive to some of the homeless, for a variety of reasons good and bad.
I just saw this van yesterday parked in an empty lot off of 15th Ave N.W. Sorry to the two peaceful looking dudes who lived there–hope that no one was hurt.
Imagine that someone was living in a vehicle in our neighborhood..who would have thought?
that is a great idea.
I saw (at the sustainable ballard festival in ballard commons park) that there were some great ideas for supporting those that have vehicles to live in and provide them with showers and toilets plus a private place to stay. Some of those who own vacant lots or parking lots could set up one of those stations for the night. Basically it amounted to a retractable fence about 10 ft tall. and a trailer that housed a portable shower and toilet. It could handle 4 cars with their inhabitants. Also, could give jobs to people as attendants.
There is a group that counts Seattle's homeless on the streets at night- sure bet that they miss some because people know how to hide really well.
This will continue to happen. Last time it was an RV near Dennys and the owners grabbed their possessions and took off (and never came back). Left some nice damage to the grass and street (and plenty of chemicals leaking into the sewer).
These vehicles aren't just for folks down on hard luck. Look inside the windows and you'll see signs where folks are renting these out for cash. This isn't just about people trying to get by, this is about people renting out vehicles as property with little regard for the inhabitants (as seen by propane and gas tanks haphazardly attached and maintained).
What really gets me is when the inhabitants blatantly throw garbage out on the grass next to their vehicle and leave it there.
One burned out van it's a start.
Agreed!
Please provide some evidence that there is some sort of slumlord renting these vehicles out. I highly doubt that you can take a “look inside the windows” and determine this.
One down, another 35 or so to go!
If somebody was a Ballard resident before, then that is one thing to help them, but we have to stop opening our doors to everyone from who knows where. If we keep welcoming anyone that is homeless to stay in either a shelter, or free RV park how can we sustain that cost?
Also it will turn Ballard into a hole of a place.
Charity should start with the family. It always surprises me how you never see many people on the streets that come from a background/culture that revolves around a strong family unit.
It is not safe for people to live in cars, or break into unoccupied properties, and frankly it is not fair to the rest of us that pay our way in society.
Actually pushing is the answer. If you feed pigeons all you will get is a pigeon problem. As soon as bums realize Ballard is filled with suckers we'll be up to our ears in vagrants from the entire west coast.
“Apparently, the overnight shelters aren't attractive to some of the homeless”
Apparently the homeless don't like to be around the homeless either.
Well, why don't you open up your house first?
Maybe I should figure out where you live and burn your place down, which I would never ever do. Wishing for someone's home to burn is terribly indecent and probably against the forum rules. Ballard really does suck now if there are idiots like yourself living here.
I disagree. You guys weren't complaining about the problem when it was the same size but hidden in the streets that I mentioned above, and that was just 3 years ago.
Someone figured that pushing was the answer and now they are camping closer to your door instead of hiding around the industrial areas.
that's silly. the problem has gotten exponentially worse over the last 5 years – and we have been complaining. the do-gooder churches in ballard have been opening more and more services for the homeless which has done nothing but increase the population. these homeless people arent from here – ask them. they come here because we provide free food and shelter. period.
Tom,
Here is a sampling of what I used to see two years ago vs. what I see today just along my regular travel routes:
On NW 42nd Street just west of 7th Ave NW (beside the Activespace) and sometimes just to the east of 7th Ave NW too, there were frequently 1-2 vans and 1-2 motor homes where people were living.
On NW 41st Street just west of 6th Ave NW, there was a whole encampment. Until 6-9 months ago there was never less than 2 vans there with people occupying them, and often as many as 8 cars, vans, and motor homes.
On NW 36th Street between 3rd Ave NW and NW Canal Street, there has been almost continually 1-4 vans or motor homes with people living in them. The vehicles didn't move in months.
In the bushes along the Burke Gilman Trail just east of Stone Way, at least one and possibly up to three people were living in a tent hidden in the shrubs for almost a year.
Just on the other side of those bushes were a few vehicles that appeared to be lived out of.
Under the Ballard Bridge, on 46th, 45th and Shilshole, we had a few clusters of pickups with campers, motor homes, vans, and lived-in cars ranging from 5 to 15 vehicles at any given time.
Today, these are all almost always vacant. At most, surveying all of these spots on my way home, I might notice 2 vehicles out of the (up to) 31 vehicles that I was previously seeing on a daily basis for multiple months at a time.
I can see an incremental increase to the population, but even when I canvas the whole area, and I have, I don't even see double what I was seeing 2 years ago. It isn't exponential…unless you didn't have your eyes open before. Now, they have moved north closer to residential areas and even into residential areas, so maybe you are starting to see them now where you wouldn't have before.
My memory for dates is a little weak, but it seems like the DSHS office went in around 5 years ago…if you want to blame something, that and the food bank have as much to do with “drawing” the population as the “do-gooder” churches. If you are going to cast blame, do it fairly. And frankly, while you are at it, you should blame UW and Sustainable Seattle for designing the mobile shower facility for homeless encampments.
Shelters would have to be totally restructured to get people to stop living in their vehicles. If you went out and asked most of these people they would tell you that they would rather live in their vehicle than in a shelter – the main reason being disease and danger specifically in the men's shelter. Living in one's vehicle is actually a step up in the homeless community to living in a shelter.
Does that hold true for long term transitional shelters, or just day-shelters?
If a shelter is just a set of beds in a big room where it is first come-first serve, sure. If it is a 24-month safe room plus job training plus counseling, is it still worse than vehicle living?
Maybe when you are committing felony arson I should shoot you in the face ! HA HA JUST KIDDING!!!! Turn yourself in to the police now. Terrorist threats are against the law.
Uh…I saw cardboard signs in the windows that said stuff like:
“1 week $150”
“$200/week, no more than 4. gas included”
“$200 a week, no drugs, no alcohol”
Each one had phone numbers scribbled down on them.
But whatever gmer, sit in your home and act blind to the fact that there are now RV-slumlords.
Ever notice all the 40 oz HIGH GRAVITY cans lying around?
How come all the “oh, wont somebody think of the homeless” crowd, who generally runs with the environmentalists, ever care about all the litter they produce?
The van, the van, the van is on fire. We don't need no food bank let the glass meth pipe burn, burn meth pipe, burn.
I've started a Flickr page to document people living in their vehicles in and around Ballard. It's amazing how many there are once you start looking.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39355341@N03/
-David
Actually… I'm documenting the vehicles people are living in… not the people themselves.
OMG! Your “memory is alittle weak”?! How long have you been in Ballard! That DHSH has been there long enough for me to teach my kids how to drive in that parking lot and my kids are in their forties!!!!!!! Five years ago?!?!?!? PUHLEEEEZE
I live on this street and people living in vehicles have always been a problem. We call the city but it takes days before they show up. After the warning ticket is posted the vehicle has to only drive around the block and the odometer no longer reads what is posted on the warning notice and the cycle starts again.
I think ” No parking between the hours of 2 am to 5 am” is a good way to put an end to this.
We have noticed the vehicles next to the Zoo. The blue and white van has been there for a long time and rarely moves. These vans use parking space that visitors to the Zoo could be using.
I agree jm, customers for the zoo could be parked there. There were three large RV's parked there last week when I went. The guys seemed pretty harmless sitting outside smoking pot.
I am so surprised the police haven't done anything or arrested anyone.
There are usually more, but they are also parking near the picnic shelters in lower Woodland Park. They should move the vans into the church parking lot since the church is feeding them.
It's a sad situation, but you sort of wonder what they are up to.