A tent in the small homeless encampment that has set up on the lawn went up in flames Monday morning, and word is that no one was injured.
Some Good Samaritians rushed in to help dose the fire and keep it from spreading until firefighters arrived. They also alerted the occupants of nearby tents of the danger.
Rob Caunter was arriving at work at the Downtown Business Ass'n when he saw the aftermath:
Rob: " It was a tent and nobody was hurt, or killed, which seems to be a bit of a miracle."
Reporter: "Why do you say that?"
Rob: " Well, because it was right beside the big sequoia too, you could see where the needles on the sequoia tree had gotten scorched as well. So it was really a bit of a miracle. You could imagine how quickly a tent goes up."
Caunter says it was a breezy night, so it's lucky the flames were doused before they spread.
He says working nearby he has witnessed a lot, including smoking in tents, and predicts it's only a matter of time before there's another fire:
" I'm surprised, to be honest, that it's taken this long for there to be an incident like that, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there wasn't another one. It's just a matter of time."
Following the blaze bylaw officers worked to move the tents farther apart.