Firefighters tackling a blaze at a downtown homeless encampment Saturday morning have discovered a body.
This is the second fatality linked to a fire in a homeless encampment in Barrie this year.
Emergency crews were called to Milligan’s Pond, at the end of Boys Street, near Dunlop and Innisfil streets, at about 10:20 a.m., emergency officials have confirmed.
Tops of the trees in the wooded area adjacent to Audrey Milligan Park appeared charred as emergency vehicles descended on the area in the core where people have been living in a handful of tents.
Barrie police spokesperson Peter Leon told BarrieToday a structure had caught fire, but he was unable to say what the structure was.
“One person is confirmed deceased. The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal has been contacted and will be attending,” said Leon. “We have our forensic identification unit there that is providing assistance. We are securing the scene with uniformed personnel, and our criminal investigation division has been notified and will assist the fire marshal when and where required.”
The fire marshal is expected to take charge of the investigation and it’s expected the body will be taken to the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service in Toronto for a post-mortem examination.
This isn’t the first serious encampment fire in Barrie this year.
On Feb. 8, a man was airlifted to the burn centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto following a fire in a small wooded area near Anne Street. A local resident at the time believed a propane tank used for heat exploded in a tent.
Barrie Fire Chief Cory Mainprize told BarrieToday the individual died several days later. No further details were released but he anticipates the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal to release its findings shortly.
“These are terribly unfortunate incidents, especially when there is a loss of life,” said Leon. “This is a human being who has family, who has friends, and they’ve lost their life in a very tragic way.”
