SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - The dangerously cold temperatures over the course of the week may force some people to take shelter in abandoned homes.
Firefighters say the homeless will occasionally seek shelter in abandoned homes.
“They tend to find places that aren’t occupied that they can be there, and whether it be for the right or the wrong, they’re really just trying to find shelter to get out of the elements and the weather,” Logan-Rogersville Assistant Fire Chief Grant Peters said.
And sometimes an attempt to stay warm can lead to a deadly incident.
“They’ll sometimes use candles or some type of gas appliance to stay warm and heat themselves to stay warm and comfortable in the house,” Peters said. “If you potentially fall asleep or it becomes to close to a part of the structure or the contents inside that structure, it sometimes can ignite a fire.”
Peters said vacant homes are already high risk, and those types of activities can make them even more hazardous.
“They’re vacant for a reason,” he said. “Whether they’re run down or just an older home. They’re usually not in a great condition to begin with.”
One Springfield man said he has seen several vacant house fires near his own home. In fact tone plot of land across the street from him used to have a vacant home before it burned down in October.
”The flames reached at least close to the power lines, I mean they were 10 to 15 feet in the air,” neighbor Corey Richardson said. “They had to call in the fire department and they had to block off the entire neighborhood for several hours.”
Richardson vividly remembers that fire right across from his home. It was just one of many that happened next door, he said.
”This one right next to us has caught on fire twice that I know of and had already previously caught on fire before we even moved in,” he said. “The one across the street caught on fire several weeks ago and they ended up having to tear it down.”
Richardson said the desire others have to stay warm has also cost him.
”I had my propane tank stolen when we first moved in and I mean I know it was because they were using it to try and stay warm,” he said. “And you know it’s just a sad thing that it’s forced to come to that.”
He said it is a difficult thing to see.
”Especially because I know a lot of them are families that are just having a hard time and you know they may have small children themselves,” he said. “I mean wouldn’t you do the same thing to keep your family warm? I mean I know I would.”
Richardson still worries about his family’s safety above all else.
”It is scary man being in this neighborhood and knowing that we have kids and this house is just several feet from mine,” he said. “If it was to catch on fire before they could get to it, it’s very likely it could catch ours on fire.”
Richardson said he worries there are not enough places for the homeless to stay in Springfield. He said he also feels like some of the places should loosen their regulations and policies in order to allow more people.
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