Residents of a northwest Edmonton community are calling on the city to help after a fire broke out at an encampment just metres from their homes.
Brooklyn Sipe lives in the area of 122 Street and 140A Avenue.
Her backyard backs onto a path and greenspace where the encampment was situated.
The fire was ignited around 3:20 a.m. on Monday.
"It was a major fire, like, our entire backyard was covered in ash," Sipe told CTV News Edmonton. "And we had no idea. We were sleeping when it happened."
"So that was very alarming to wake up to."
Sipe says she made numerous complaints to the city and police about the encampment before the fire.
"First I made a report to 311. Nothing was done for about three weeks. I called the police because I heard them fighting. But because it was after the fight and not during the fight, they couldn't do anything, they sent me back to 311," Sipe said.
"It makes you uneasy, especially when they're doing drugs. And they're creating mess like, it's, it's dangerous as well for all the people walking."
Three days after the fire, debris and burnt items still litter the area.
"We have no idea who's gonna clean it up."
Sipe isn't the only resident with concerns.
Lana Gavric also lives near the greenspace. She was frightened when the fire broke out.
"Flames were blazing over the rooftop," she said.
"People started actually picking up their animals and putting the kids in the vehicles that night to try to save as much as possible. It was scary."
"Fortunately, the fire didn't spread. So we were lucky. This time we were lucky."
She also had concerns about the encampment before the fire.
"We have this beautiful, beautiful path built recently for everybody to enjoy. And we can't even do that."
"We used to have kids playing in this green area. I have grandkids, three of them, that come quite often and we would go outside and play. We can't do that anymore."
The city says it had received 29 complaints about the encampment, and it was on the list for a risk assessment before the fire broke out.
"Each encampment is assessed by a peace officer, who determines the risk level of the site based on factors such as: size, criminal elements, risk to public safety (including those living in the encampments), presence of safety hazards or fire risks, proximity to buildings, playgrounds or schools and other factors," Chris Webster of the city wrote in an email to CTV News Edmonton.
"City peace officers and Edmonton Police Service respond to high-risk encampments with an accelerated response, timely resolution of these encampments is the priority."
Webster says the encampment has now been cleared because of the fire damage and city operations crews will remove the remaining debris within seven days of the fire.
The assessment had not been performed because the city has a backlog of encampments to assess, he stated.
It's not a satisfactory answer for neighbours.
"Seven days, it's way too long. They should act right away," Gavric said.
"I do think that a little bit more response towards it would have been nice, because it shouldn't have gotten to this. It shouldn't have escalated to this," Sipe said.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti, Kyra Markov, and Galen McDougall
