[UPDATE 1:30 a.m.] Eight Trailers on Fire at the Foot of Hilfiker in Eureka
Video and photos by Mark McKenna
Six trailers are fully involved in flames at the foot of Hilfiker and two more are also catching fire, reports the Incident Commander from Humboldt Bay Fire after he reached the scene of the fire which was reported about 12:25 a.m.
“This is a working defensive fire,” he told dispatch.
Firefighters requested law enforcement to block Hilfiker at Broadway after bystanders caused issues.
Fortunately, these buildings are near the firefighting training center which has easy access to water.
PG&E donated these trailers to Betty Chinn as possible housing for the homeless several years ago.
UPDATE 12:55 a.m.: Firefighters continue to pour water onto the large fire.
UPDATE 1:01 a.m.: The buildings that are not on fire have been checked for occupants and no one is in them. The ambulance is allowed to leave the incident now.
UPDATE 1:12 a.m.: At least one engine has been released from the fire.
UPDATE 1:30 a.m.: Eureka Police are being released from the fire. More engines are being released. Firefighters are now working on quenching the final flames but they have the fire tamped down.
UPDATE: Blaze at Betty Chinn Trailers Appears to Be Human Caused, Says Humboldt Bay Fire
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Very nice of PG&E. So why weren’t they used? I wonder how much they were insured for and who gets the money.
follow the money
There is none. Not insured.
“We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two.”
They were not being used because it has gone back and forth with the County as to where to put these trailors, I belive that had been worked out recently, but now there gone. I hope they had insurance on them, but I doubt it, Betty’s Foundation would get the funding if they are insured.
They were not insured. PGE had to show a value of $0 to donate them and Betty Chinn coyldnt afford any cash to put into them. Its just a big waste.
Bum fire?
Well… I don’t think there were any lightning strikes in the area.
Just wondering why Betty wasn’t using these
Seems plenty of need for transient housing so must be issue with location. Six trailers caught fire at once likely more than coincidental.
Seriously… Those trailers have been sitting there for what seems like forever. Yet again a waste of tax payers money.
Jeff, did you get read they were donated by PG&E they were the old ones they used for fire locations. Tax dollars, No
Really? You are wondering? You have not noticed that between the BOS and Eureka city government, Betty is thwarted at almost every turn. Housing the homeless? Sorry, that’s too hard.
And Betty has a rep for only helping the most mentally stable homeless and refusing to work with folks who need mental health help as well as homelessness help.
Well, when a couple break into one of her buildings, steals, then, quite literally, shits on her stuff, wouldn’t you be a bit skeptical of some of them also? I’d have called it quits a long time ago, yet, she has a heart the size of a Blue Whale.
I have to agree with the above statement. Its not right that a person will pick and choose who they want to help out and who they turn away. On that note I’d like to give major praises to the Amazing group running the program down at the Eureka Rescue Mission. They are full every night giving the endless number of homeless a warm bed, full belly , and clean clothes whether they have a mental illness or not. They don’t judge they just welcome them in. Yet they don’t seem to get any assistance from the county that I know of. Imagine how many more people they could help and give hope to if they had the funds that Betty Chinn gets. Okay I’m done venting I just wanted to put that out there.
I’ve heard very differently. Unfortunately. She’s well intentioned and it’s hard to suss out addiction/ mh issues, even for pros.
That is what she is equipped for.
I think we all know who is going to get the insurance money. Chinn. Waste of money. Complete scam.
Hoping no one was injured.
What do you call eight trailers on fire in so eureka?
Mini Paradise 2.0?
Urban renewal?
A good start! (Sorry for the bad joke)
“Firefighters requested law enforcement to block Hilfiker at Broadway after bystanders caused issues”……suspicious
Just another failure of the ECC. They have had how many years to figure out a way to allow for the use of these vacant trailers? They have repeatedly refused to do anything about the homeless and now this option is no longer available. Yet, like a bunch of idiots, Humboldt voters have promoted one of them to BOS. Just another day in the life of Humboldt idiocracy.
But they have already called their claim officer. Cash em in before the value drops even more, crack me up.
They were uninsured.
The problem is where to put them. Additionally, 1 councilperson can’t do it all…Compared to who Natalie was running against, she was obviously the best choice.
Any injuries? Hope everyone is ok!
Tweakers, creepers, microwave shitters, junkie critters, alley prowlers, shopping cart haulers… valuable community members that need to be destigmatized and integrated. Is there some more Grant money available?
You forgot Humans….
METHODOLOGY
The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury (Grand Jury) took the following actions to investigate the effect of creating and enforcing certain ordinances on the homeless problem:
● Researched the recent U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Martin v Boise regarding anti-camping ordinances
● Reviewed local and nationwide articles and reports
● Reviewed Eureka city ordinances and enforcement policies and procedures
● Conducted data analysis and mapping of Eureka Municipal Code Citations and Arrests provided by the Eureka Police Department
● Interviewed local government officials, current Eureka City Council members, law enforcement officials, a property manager, advocates for the homeless population, and homeless individuals
● Researched how other cities and counties have dealt with similar issues
DISCUSSION Introduction
Oh, surprise surprise.
Are these the trailers I’ve heard about that have been available for years yet nobody was allowed to live in them? We’ve had elderly women living in the streets while these donated trailers have been sitting empty…for years? There is a story there and I’d like to hear it…
Not everyone is capable of mustering enough control to be safely housed voluntarily. Not every one wants it. Even if handed utilities, food, cleaning services, etc. But there will be a story. Or several. Mental illness and/or drug addiction march to their own beats. Sometime frenetic, sometimes sober but rarely the same as everyone else.
True… not everyone ‘wants’ it. Some do, though- ‘need’ it, even. They were never given the option.
Likely they were. Repeatedly.
Bummer.
The general rule of thumb is if you have something for 6 months and don’t use it, it is just taking up space and you should discard it.
There goes my ski’s and snorkeling gear.
And all my building materials I collected for my next cabin..
Damn not my soap underwear and toothbrush.
I am very sure that those trailers were set on fire by bums. There was no other reason they caught fire. Why Betty Chinn did not place the trailers where they were needed most probably was a county problem. It is a real shame that they can no longer provide housing for the needy. I hope someone witnessed the person(s) that set them on fire, and the police can arrest those responsible. Those responsible should be forced to help city workers clean up that mess.
It could be “bums”, or it could just be someone who just likes to see things burn. An arsonist. Though the arsonist could be a bum as well. Or someone who really, really hated the idea that the trailers would be used, for the bums.
You are correct Angela. Arsonists get off by watching things burn that they set on fire. Where is the mental health when needed?
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice warned that local laws against camping in public spaces criminalizing homelessness could violate the Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment. This was affirmed when a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided in September 2018 that an ordinance banning sleeping outdoors is unconstitutional if the people have no other options. This ruling has rippled all the way down to our local law enforcement and County legal offices.
EPD interviewees have stated that enforcement is to control aggressive behavior and to protect the public. However, while that may be true to some extent, most of the citations were related to activities of daily living, particularly sleeping (camping).
In addition to the passing and implementation of these ordinances, the Grand Jury examined the evolution of the PalCo Marsh (the Marsh) homeless community and its subsequent evacuation in 2016, as part of the enforcement strategy.
Encampments and Dispersal
According to an article in the North Coast Journal:
[two homeless people]…have moved seven times in the last three months: down the abandoned Northwestern Pacific railroad line to unincorporated territory, across the tracks and then back north into Eureka city limits, towing their dogs, bikes, and tent with them. They are two of the estimated 730 people living homeless in Eureka, and they have just been handed another eviction notice.
North Coast Journal, July 23, 2015, “Three Heads for Every Bed: Eureka tells marsh homeless to move on, but where?“
There was an article about Sonoma county homeless, and it stated that each homeless apartment (house?) would or will cost the county $700,000. Good grief.
WOW! what a price! I could buy and new home and land for that amount. The apartments must have been really fancy. Good grief indeed!
You can, in Sonoma? Prove it!
I don’t need to prove anything to you my friend, but you can buy a house and land for that amount. Check out the homes for sale.
i am very sure that all of those trailers were set on fire by someone other than a homeless person and all at once.
The homeless had been living in them for some time as I understand it. I still think it was a bum caused fire.
I am very sure that those trailers were set on fire by Rednecks who hate bums. Whaddaya think of that?
Like the BOS?
In eureka?
Rednecks have bums mixed in with them also.
Seems to me we’re having a lot of fires lately Not Good Hope no one gets hurt or killed
Betty has been trying to put in this development legaly . she has changed the housing ordinance she has to put utilities in and the government has been slow as everyone knows. Now the community is challenging her so don’t blame her shes trying.
It has taken forever for Betty Chin to obtain approval to use the PG&E donated trailers for housing. After being initially moved to the place, people(?), started trashing the trailers. The City or some agency put up a fence to protect the area. Yet Hikshari walkers reported young people throwing rocks thru exposed windows. Then plywood boards were placed on the broken windows to keep out the rain. Too little too late. And there they were for years or probably until rehabbing then and connecting power, water, sewage and trailer stabilization would have cost millions and may lie the underlining huge problem on top of a typical response of NIMBY screamers that always rears their ugly heads in Eureka. The only place they would not disagree as a place would be 200 miles off the coast. Trailers floating on the ocean with NO way to get ashore. The bodies of the homeless trying to swim ashore would disappear. The City and business community would be politicking for awards for their innovational solution to the homeless problem. Within a year McKinleyville, Arcata and Fortuna would join in.
Having lived next to mentally unstable people more than once, and worked around/for/with the mentally ill, NIMBY would work for me. There’s this delusion that the chronically homeless are going to cooperate if given what most people think they need. That they are just like us but not getting the material things they need. And it’s society’s fault that they aren’t. In a way that is true. What they need to be safe is a controlled, indestructible, secured environment that does not allow impulses to be acted out even if only once in awhile. That means depriving people of freedom. Or allowing freedom and be ready to deal with a continuing series of mostly self inflicted crises as they come up.
You have to being willing to enter their world and act like it’s normal, a hard, draining and shifting job that rarely has a satisfactory fairy tale ending. Though it occasionally does, so you keep trying. Crazy people don’t like living with crazy people any more than anyone else does. And not infrequently are the victims of other crazy people. https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-social-hierarchies-like-in-homeless-populations It’s not so easy and there are no “solutions” that are agreeable to everyone. At least in the US.
“What they need to be safe is a controlled, indestructible, secured environment that does not allow impulses to be acted out even if only once in awhile.” Ronny Reagan closed down all of those facilities when he was Governor or “acting” like an elected Governor. Sorry Ronny no awards for that position!
Hey Kym, I think you might be wrong on the time, in your report it says 12:25 P.M. to me it looks more like 12:25A.M.
Thank you. Fixed.
We always seem to forget that most of the homeless in Humboldt STILL do not want to be housed.
Looks like a win for team NIMBY..
i would interview the people in the only adjacent house. 5 of the trailers were moved after placement to improve that dwellings view. sometimes its that easy to solve a case.
You cant keep anything in Eureka for very long until it gets used as a home for the “night walkers”, and “day tweakers” that have taken over the town. We are all beholding to them, we cant touch them or force them to get housed.
Completely ridiculous, police, fire, sheriffs, mental health workers, trash workers, security, on and on the amount of money and programs that we are wasting on these messed up and deranged people.
Tourists travelling through town seeing the boarded up windows, the people literally sleeping on the streets……hell no they don’t want to stop and eat, visit, shop, sleep for the night. Can you blame them, I would not stop here if I see that crap.
I agree 100 %
Night tweakers and day walkers
Speaking of unused items, whatever became of those refrigerated semitrailers that were supposed to be used to store bodies due to Covid-19?
I think they are out at Redwood Acres ?
Check the “Lot Cop” cameras
8 trailers on fire, seems the kind of size only gasoline and an arsonist could create.
PG&E had trailers on the ready? For people displaced by fire? Why? (actually, I have 2 why’s) (the first of which will probably answer the second) Question 1# My family lost 15 houses in a devestating fire in Shasta County. The fire wasn’t just devastating, it wasn’t just catastrophic, it was apocalyptic. An entire town wiped off the face of the earth.Nobody offered us PG&E trailers. But I can see it now. God forbid PG&E should show any sort of humanity or compassion to these families. Because by offering any sort of humanitarian aid or support to the victims, those efforts may be misconstrued as them admitting to, or at least acknowledging the possibility of personal culpability. Adding insult to injury, they then had the audaciousness to file for bankruptcy protection. People were (and are) still missing and/or unaccounted for, Things were still on fire. And before the smoke even got the chance to clear out, their lawyers had the wagons circled up. Those trailers could’ve helped a lot of people. And I can almost guarantee the people who needed them the most had no idea that they ever even existed.
That’s too bad. I knew Betty Chin when she was a playground monitor for Lafayette Elementary in Eureka. She has done a lot of good for the local homeless community these days.
I’m starting to believe the “leadership” in Humboldt, spurred by their selfish constituents, continue to stand in the way of housing people in this county. Whether it be standing in the way of affordable housing for low to middle class workers, decent modern units for students at HSU and Redwoods, and people lacking shelter, there has always been a “housing shortage” here. Every time a design for a housing unit goes up, someone somewhere finds a nit picking reason why it should be delayed until eventually the contractors just give up. This is especially true in Arcata. All the Boomers just want their property value to increase, the one they paid like $40k for 30 years ago. They claim there just isn’t room for expansion but look around. Forest as far as the eye can see.
And the Boomer landlords love it. No need to modernize their crappy little units when people are willing to pay $2k for a shitbox apartment. The very shitbox they bought 30 years ago for $30k yet stand in the way of progress at every available opportunity.
Much of anything associated with PG&E seems to go up in flames sooner rather than later. That organization has a remarkably dangerous touch.
Another very stupid and dangerous act by a very stupid and dangerous person(s).
These trailers burn up and the City of Eureka want to build in public parking lots.
Hilfiker Rd would not be an area desired for added parking if that is what you are insinuating. It is downtown and old town that has parking difficulties.
to fire personnel or civilians, nor any damage to the residence located next to the trailers or the Humboldt Bay Fire Training Center.absorbed by patrol officers and the ACO.
In response to these cuts, EPD looked at the types of calls for service its officers respond to and made adjustments to those calls. Some animal-related calls, such as animals at large not causing a hazard or safety concern, were downgraded. Calls involving dangerous animals remained a high priority.
The ACO position was vacant from January 1, 2016 until April 1, 2016 when our current ACO, Celeste Villarreal, was hired to fill the position. Since her employment ACO Villarreal has successfully completed the following trainings and work related experiences:
April 2016 16 hours of Ride Alongs with Humboldt County Sheriffs Office ACOs.
3. Recommendations numbered R6 require further analysis.
(Attach an explanation and the scope and parameters of an analysis or study, and a timeframe for the matter to be prepared for discussion by the officer or director of the agency or department being investigated or reviewed, including all governing body of the public agency when applicable. This timeframe shall not exceed the six months from the date of the publication of the Grand Jury report.)
4. Recommendations numbered N/A will not be implemented because they are not warranted or are not feasible.
(Attach an explanation.)
Date: Signed:
01/16/18 — Taser Conducted Electrical Weapon Certificate — EPD.
In January 2018, Chief Stephen Watson brought PSOs (renamed Community Service Officers, or “CSOs”) back to the EPD. The Eureka City Council authorized the addition of two new positions, and the first position was filled on