A fire broke out Monday night at the homeless encampment next to Albuquerque’s Quirky Used Books, which has been under scrutiny recently after a shooting death at the location in November.
No one was hurt, according to fire officials, but some of the tents were destroyed along with personal belongings before the fire was put out.
The camp has drawn criticism and increased attention in recent weeks, and some of the neighbors even told KUNM weeks ago they were worried about a fire like this.
Alfredo Barrenechea owns the building that shares its property line with the Quirky encampment. He said he has been nervous, waiting for this to happen.
“You know, I come in in the morning, they've got their little fires going and I smell fentanyl,” he said, “every single morning.”
And he thinks it could easily happen again.
“It's only a matter of time till there's another tragedy over here. It is not safe,” he said. “Thank God nobody was hurt. But, you know, it very easily could have been a major, major disaster.”
Barrenechea says he spoke with police officers who said they were able to spot the fire quickly and thus get campers to safety.
But Barrenechea says he has good reason to worry that another fire could get out of control again without intervention.
“The ultra ironic part of this is,” he said, “I drove by this morning on my way into work, and they had another fire going.”
Quirky’s owner, Gilam Kerley, said the camp community really started growing when the city made public camping illegal, and he allowed people to start camping in his parking lot rather than on a sidewalk or public park.
The city fined him $1500 and Kerley filed an ongoing lawsuit arguing he has a constitutional right to do what he likes on his own land.
The city then filed an injunction to shut down the camp following a shooting outside of Quirky books in November. That will be heard by the courts on January 8.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
