MANCHESTER, NH – Police and fire crews responded to an area off Queen City Avenue Saturday at approximately 1:24 p.m. for a report of a dead person following a small explosion at a homeless encampment.
Fire Chief Dan Goonan confirmed that the state fire marshal was called to conduct an investigation that claimed one life.
“A dead male was discovered at the scene of a tent fire at that location,” Goonan said. “Cause and circumstances are currently under investigation by NH State Fire Marshal who’s on the scene, as well as Manchester Fire investigators and Manchester Police.”
An autopsy is scheduled for Dec. 6. The victim has not been positively identified as yet, according to a statement issued at 6:30 p.m. by the state fire marshal’s office.
The camp is located between Calef Road and Willow Street, behind several businesses. Fire officials used Queen City Avenue to access the remote area where a small encampment was located. It is just behind Willow Street Auto, where Fred Fricker was moving cars around in the lot due to the snowfall.
“It was an explosion, I guess. I heard something like a gunshot, a popping noise, and I knew there was a tent back there so I looked behind the garage and saw a bunch of smoke. I called 911 a minute after it happened,” Fricker said.
Fricker said he didn’t know any of the homeless who have been camping behind his place – people have come and gone over the past 10 years or so.
“They go out of their way not to meet you, but it’s kind of sad. The investigator asked me if I knew who he was. You kind of know your neighbors under normal circumstances. I don’t know who he was. It’s really sad. I think it might change my attitude a little bit going forward, maybe get to know them a bit more,” Fricker said.
He speculated that someone had brought a propane heater inside their tent to keep warm as the December nor’easter dumped heavy wet snow across the city.
“It’s horrible conditions out there. I don’t know how they do it. Sometimes over the years when it’s been 10 below, I ask myself that question. Pretty much they all have issues, mental or substance abuse issues. I hate to say it, but there’s no other way a person could be out there,” Fricker said.
In the 25 years he’s had a shop on Willow Street, the population of homeless people living along the railroad tracks has increased in the last 10 years. He said he noticed a new tent went up right after the state cleared the courthouse property a few weeks ago.
For the most part he has no problems with the encampments, although there were times when he would forget to lock up cars in his lot, and he’d find people sleeping in the cars.
“Either that, or they’d rummage through the cars if I left them open. It’s an awful situation. No matter what you feel about them, you don’t ever want to see anything like that happen to a person. Maybe this will change our conversation about the homeless,” Fricker said.
He has also been a landlord and recognizes that there are no rental units affordable for those who live off monthly government checks.
“The lower tier of the working class and people on disability, they don’t make enough to afford an apartment. They can afford 500 or 600 dollars, but there aren’t any units like that – except for rooming houses, and the city doesn’t like those,” he said.
Fricker believes the only way to address the issue is to create a program involving landlords – those who manage higher-end properties and those considered “slum lords.” Both have a role to play, Fricker says.
“I feel like if a person is getting $780, they could take $400 towards rent and then subsidize the other $500. Or if a rental unit costs $1,000, give the landlord $2,000 and create a task force that would help deal with the issues that come up – because there will be issues. You have to find a way to give landlords support to offer units to people who can’t otherwise afford them,” Fricker said.
“That might work and get them out of the tents. It would have to get to the point where the owners of the high-end properties come up with a plan. They’d have to manage it, because otherwise, we have homeless people coming and asking for money from their tenants to get the things they need. I don’t think they really want to be in tents, but they can’t go to a shelter because the shelter wants them to be sober, and because they can’t follow those rules, they choose the tents,” Fricker says.
“The rate of people getting healed is terribly low. They need more time to get fixed. Right now many of them are just going to get their methadone, and that’s just a substitution for their heroin. They hang out and prostitute themselves, or whatever they have to do to afford their habit, to get through the night, and the next day the process starts over again,” he says.
He spent some time living in Europe years ago and said he noticed they view addiction and mental illness as social issues rather than a crime. People suffering from addiction and mental health issues are still people.
“In Europe they’d get intense counseling, or help for whatever their issue is. If they still needed their heroin, they got it but at least they could keep working and be a productive member of society, and they didn’t have to steal to get what they needed,” Fricker says. “They’ve had that approach for 30 years over there. Seems like we’re just starting to understand that here. It’s going to cost money one way or another, but we have to do something else.”
The area behind his shop is secluded. There’s a 10-foot drop that leads to the railroad tracks, so the homeless can tuck their tents in and be out of view. If you keep walking you can get to Elm Street or to the Fisher Cats stadium, which allows the homeless people to move through the city and get where they need to go, mostly unnoticed.
The death of a homeless person during a blizzard due to inadequate shelter in the state’s largest city should reinvigorate not only discussion, but action steps, Fricker says.
“With this person passing away, it will cause a stir. Anytime there’s a death, that always changes the conversation – and it should,” he says.
“I have always said that you can be part of the problem or part of the solution, so let’s try to figure out a solution, you know? Maybe a landlord right now only allows two to an apartment. Let’s put four in there, and subsidize it so there’s an incentive,” Fricker says. “I have a lot of thoughts on it. I’ve been waiting for some sort of housing forum for the city. I’d love to speak more about this, but so far, I haven’t seen anything like that.”
This is a developing story. We’ll update you as soon as we have more information.
