More than 500 fires involved Winnipeg's homeless last year, WFPS says

New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.

Emergency personnel made 576 visits to encampments for fire-safety purposes in 2025, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said in an annual report submitted to the city's community services committee.

According to the report, from January to November, 543 fires at homeless encampments were noted by WFPS personnel, the service said.

Lisa Gilmour, assistant chief of community risk reduction at the fire-paramedic service, clarified Thursday that last statistic captures more broadly fires that crews determine may involve homeless people, rather than fires in actual encampments.

"Some of them would be large encampment fires," Gilmour told reporters in a videocall.

"It could be a call to an encampment fire that's already out by the time we attend, or it could be a fire in a location that's not an encampment, but appears to involve homelessness, so a vacant lot, maybe a bin fire or something like that."

The numbers have not significantly increased from the 512 fires reported around the same period in 2024, Gilmour said.

She said there were a couple of significant fires in homeless encampments at the end of 2025, but she couldn't recall any so far this year.

The report said WFPS changed the way it dispatches personnel to encampments in 2025, with all fire prevention officers now making regular visits to encampments based on reported risks from the public.

"In the past, we had one fire prevention inspector … dedicated to encampment work," Gilmour said. The switch to multiple officers has "allowed us to respond faster to encampments, and especially to complaints."

From January to November last year, nearly 1,700 reports related to encampments were made to Winnipeg's 311 service — most of which were referred to outreach service providers, according to the WFPS annual update, which says it also helped resolve some of those reports.

The fire-paramedic service says Winnipeg's population growth, older housing and poverty have increased pressure on emergency responders, who are facing more fires, rescues and medical emergencies "now than ever before," according to the report.

But the data in the report it was mainly collected before November, when the city limited where encampments could be located.

Under the rules, encampments are not allowed within 50 metres of schools, playgrounds, daycares and skating rinks. They're also prohibited within 30 metres of transit shelters, bridges, docks and similar public facilities.