After becoming the target of more than 40 violent assaults over the course of the previous four months, mostly committed by the homeless population of the city, firefighters in Seattle have requested the city take action.
The protectors have been frequently attacked by the irate down-and-outs throughout the assaults, which the city’s firefighter’s union claims started in May. Frequently, they have been targeted while reacting to fires set at the city’s increasing number of homeless encampments.
In one such instance, which happened last month, a fire officer was hit with a rock as he worked to extinguish a campfire-related fire.
In a another incident, firefighters were pursued by a homeless individual brandishing a knife in June while they responded to a medical emergency at one of these encampments.
Fire officials are concerned for their safety as well as the potential effects the unrest may have on the rest of the community due to the string of incidents, of which there have been more than 40, according to union officials who complained of the assaults in several letters to Seattle’s city council.
It happens at the same time that the mayor of the renownedly progressive city was compelled to implement an emergency plan on Friday to remove the increasing number of encampments.
In a letter to the Seattle City Council dated July 26, Kenny Stuart, president of IAAF Local 27, expressed the union’s worries and detailed how the assaults have made his fellow firefighters hesitant to do their duties.
Stuart, a Seattle fireman since 1996, said in a letter found on July 26 that “Seattle Fire Fighters are not taught or authorised to minimise aggressive Individuals, and it is not conducive to our goal.”
Stuart said, “This risk, this violence, must be actively reduced by the policies and deeds of our elected officials, law enforcement, and leaders within the Seattle Fire Department.”
In order to highlight the risks his fellow firemen are in, Stuart described a few egregious incidents that happened after authorities responded to a call related to a homeless camp.
In one incident in July, employees arrived to a camp to put out fires sparked by occupants, who then confronted them with weapons, including a steel rebar club, and threatened them.
According to Stuart, one of the offenders kicked a female fireman in the genitalia, and other homeless people slapped her in separate instances.
On July 18, Stuart described another incident in which a fireman putting out a fire at another camp was injured by a heavy rock thrown by an irate camp resident.
In another incident on June 3, Stuart said, a homeless man who was being treated by the fire department after they responded to a medical call was chasing after first responders while brandishing a knife and trying to stab them.
The culprit, who was homeless, climbed the engine of the fire truck as the fire fighters fled inside it before being apprehended.
Stuart said in the letter that the assailants were all detained in all three instances before adding that they have now been let to reintegrate into society.
Stuart encouraged municipal authorities to address the surge in assaults on SFD personnel, the most recent of which took place on Thursday.
“This is a troubling pattern, and we are bringing it to the attention of all of our political authorities to be handled before there is a tragedy in our city involving an assault on public personnel,” the letter reads.
The city seemed to respond to Stuart’s plea for help earlier this month when Bruce Harrell, the city’s new mayor, issued a statement supporting the firefighters and promising to cooperate with the union to secure their safety.
IAFF 27, the SFD, and the Council will work together to make sure they are safe at work and across the city. “I commend their continuous dedication to our collective safety.”
After inheriting the situation when he was elected to office in January, Harrell has made it a priority to confront the growing number of camps that are cropping up across the renown for being awakened.
Since then, $173 million has been allocated to Seattle’s homeless epidemic in 2022. According to municipal figures, it represents a 125 percent increase from 2018 when $77 million was planned for the problem.
Harrell ordered the inclusion of a $9.8 million expenditure package for the clearance of the encampments, which are often located near RVS and include several homeless people, in this year’s budget.
However, despite the city’s efforts, there were 814 camps recorded in June, up from 763 in May, according to authorities.
The city claims that the new figures are a more true reflection of the number of encampments that have emerged around Seattle, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,334, rather than a sign that the city’s homeless population is growing.
According to a statement released by Harrell’s office earlier this month, “The changes for these data points are due to a combination of data collection changes, increased awareness of sites that were not previously identified, reductions due to site closures and referrals to shelter, and new sites that have been identified as our data collection processes are refined.”
Having said that, a record number of campfire fires have been reported in the city. In the first four months of 2022, 608 fires were reported; by June 30, that number had increased to 855.
Currently, the city records five fires with campent origins on average each day, according to authorities.
There have also been several reports of gunshots and gunfire near recognised encampment locations, with authorities reporting an average of three incidents per week – down from 3.5 per week earlier in the year. By June 30, 71 shots had been fired close to encampments.
According to the mayor’s office, encampments “continue to be disproportionately represented in public safety emergencies in the city [and] safety and health emergencies at encampments continue to put additional strain on an already stretched-thin public safety system” due to the number of shootings and shots fired.
IAFF 27 asked for assistance in safeguarding firemen from risks linked with these locations earlier this month, and Lisa Herbold, a member of the Seattle City Council and the Chair of the Public Safety & Human Services Committee, also replied, expressing concern for the first responders.
In an email to the union, she said, “I firmly condemn acts of violence and I support the safety of those in public service, particularly first responders who put themselves in harm’s path, both at SPD and SFD.”
What other steps the city is doing to stop the crimes occurring at the encampments are not immediately evident.
The number of homeless people in the city has increased recently, and the quickly expanding encampments are a result of the acute housing crisis the city is presently going through, which is being exacerbated by skyrocketing rents and a rising poverty line.