As temperatures fall, PSPD helping transients in effort to prevent warming fires
Last week, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway had to be evacuated and closed after a fire started by a local transient quickly growing to 20 acres. The man who ignited the fire had to be rescued after being trapped by a wall of flames, according to Battalion Chief Mike Smith.
“With the transient population here in the valley, it’s getting colder at night and what’s happening is they’re starting warming and cooking fires and it’s catching the vegetation on fire and we’ve had an increase in those fires since the temperatures have gone down,” Smith said.
For some transients, it’s their last resort to stay warm.
“You’re just so hungry, you will do almost anything in order to fill that hunger, or you need warmth, in order to think beyond, ‘I’m cold, I’m cold, I’m cold.’ You do anything above and beyond to do what you need to do in order to survive,” Smith said.
KESQ & CBS Local 2’s Lauren Coronado on a ride along with Palm Springs police officer Christopher Smart. He is one of five community officers who regularly patrols areas populated by transients, offering them resources to get back on their feet.
“The nice thing about my position is I’m actually allowed to take people, like take them to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and drive out of the city limits and do that,” Smart said. “Less than 10 percent of the people that I contact are responsive to resources.”
Michelle Fay and Jesus are part of that small bracket.
“We’re really blessed to have officers like Smart, to come and remind us one step I could have forgot to do, ‘Michelle go to the well to get your housing,'” Michelle and Jesus said.
Smart said the majority of people aren’t so willing to accept help.
“For a variety of reasons don’t want to go to a shelter or get housing… in my opinion, the majority of it is drugs, then you have other things like mental health issues and some people just prefer to be outside,” Smart said.
Smart’s work is part of an on-going, multi-agency approach in combating homelessness.
“It’s a very hard task to overcome and I’m sure it’s something we’ll be dealing with for generations and I want to continue to see the resources provided,” Smart said.
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