Dozens displaced by fire in homeless camp

A homeless encampment of about 80 people near Interstate 880 in Oakland caught fire early Tuesday, torching more than a dozen tents and makeshift shacks but not injuring anyone, authorities said.

A man was found dead in a part of the camp that didn’t burn, and the death appeared to be unrelated to the blaze, said Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Demond Simmons. The person apparently had been dead for several days, and there appeared to be no signs of trauma, officials said.

The Oakland Police Department is investigating the incident as an “unexplained death,” police said, and the Alameda County coroner’s bureau will determine the cause.

The blaze was reported at 2:40 a.m. on the 2200 block of East 12th Street, Simmons said. The flames spread quickly in the densely packed camp, and 15 tents and structures were destroyed during the 55 minutes it took for fire crews to bring the flames under control, he said.

Thirty-seven residents were displaced. A nearby street bridge was scorched as the flames surged as high as 35 feet.

“We’re very thankful no one was hurt, or perished in the fire,” said Deputy Fire Chief Nicholas Luby. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Nghia Tran, 50, said he was sleeping in his tent at the camp when screaming woke him up. He dashed outside, saw flames and fled in fear.

After firefighters put out the blaze he came back. He pointed to the ashy mess that used to be his tent: “Nothing, no more,” Tran said sadly.

Tha Cee, 43, was away from the camp when the fire broke out and came back to find his tent also destroyed.

“I lost everything, just about,” he said. “All I have is what I’m wearing right now.” He said he had lived there almost a year.

“I don’t know what I’ll do or where I’ll sleep tonight,” he said. “It’s crazy living out here. There’s always violence, and now this.”

The Red Cross was giving food, blankets and supplies to the displaced victims, and Joe DeVries, assistant to the city administrator, said the city was attempting to make shelter arrangements.

DeVries said the city was planning to relocate the large camp in the coming months to make room for a retrofit project in November on the now-scorched street bridge. And though city workers had been supplying portable toilets and weekly garbage pickups to the camp, he said counselors would prefer that everyone be in shelter beds or housing.

“Encampments are not safe for anyone when people have this much debris and they’re packed in here with no building codes,” he said. “People think tents are flame resistant — they’re not.”