City encourages residents to report encampments
By Lethbridge Herald on January 19, 2026.
Herald photo by ALEJANDRA-PULIDO GUZMAN
Lethbridge Police charged a 44-year-old woman with arson in relation to a grass fire that damaged a large area of the coulees near the Mountainview Cemetery last week. Sgt. Ryan Darroch talked about LPS believing in drug use as a factor in the fire.Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald
Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services, Lethbridge Police Service and the City of Lethbridge’s Community Social Development department are asking residents to report encampments.
Sean Middleton, encampment support specialist with the city of Lethbridge said Monday the encampment strategy was created to balance the needs of vulnerable population as well as public safety.
“We work really close with the Lethbridge Police Service and Fire to reduce fire hazards in the river bottom, however, we can only respond to what gets reported,” said Middleton.
When encampments are reported, the encampment response team can assess hazards and proactively address risks to occupants and the community, while connecting individuals to outreach services.
Lethbridge Police Sgt. Ryan Darroch in charge of the Downtown Police Unit said the last couple of weeks have been troubling with couple of incidents involving encampments in the river bottom and people sleeping rough in the area.
“Both of those events led to some serious fires, and we got very lucky without loss of life and property that couldn’t be replaced. We were within meters of that happening,” said Darroch.
He said they need people to be their eyes and ears when they are in the river valley and report anything they believe to be out of the ordinary, an encampment or someone having a fire.
“We currently do not have the resources within the Lethbridge Police Service or the Fire Department to be constantly deployed in those areas, so we rely upon the awesome citizens of our city to help us with that,” said Darroch.
When talking about the arson charges laid in connection with the fire that burned parts of the Mountainview Cemetery, Darroch said they believed there was some drug use involved, which led to grass catching fire and getting out of control.
“When events like that happen, it is a huge drain in our resources. Our role is to give the fire department space to work, so we are blocking roadways, evacuating people. In that case there was several houses that needed to be evacuated,” said Darroch.
He said some people are very reluctant to leave and it is a very traumatic experience for them, so people are very upset.
“For us, that takes six, eight or ten officers away from other duties and things can pile up or get put on hold, and that can take hours and even days to get caught up,” said Darroch.
Troy Hicks, Chief Fire Marshal with Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services said the fire risk is very high right now due to the dry conditions and warm weather.
“The fire we had last week, we had five stations response. The entire day shift that was working that day was called to that fire, including some of our fire and EMS administration as well like our deputy chiefs and chiefs on call,” said Hicks.
He said when that happens the city is at risk, because all the manpower is being utilized to contain a fire that was preventable.
“In those situations what we do is we call people to come in and fill in, so that takes time. People are doing whatever they are doing on their day off, or getting ready for their night shift, so maybe they are having their afternoon nap, so it takes time to get people in,” said Hicks.
Data from the City’s Encampment Response Report (2023-2025) shows that public reporting leads to measurable safety outcomes. Over this period, the ERT triaged more than 2,200 sites and removed more than 85,000 kilograms of debris city-wide. During the same timeframe, outdoor fire incidents declined by 27.7 per cent from 2023 to 2024, even as reports of encampments increased.
If you observe an encampment or conditions that may present a fire or safety risk, you are encouraged to report it online at https://www.lethbridge.ca/emergency-services-public-safety/safety-contacts/ or by phone by calling 311. But if there is an active fire or an emergency, report it by calling 9-1-1.
When reporting, residents are asked to provide the location and any visible hazards. Timely and accurate reports allow City teams to respond effectively.
23-22
Some of us have been impacted by encampments in our area, but when we reported them, nothing was done. It took days to see them removed, just to see them back in nearby or in the same spot.
Your ways of dealing with the encampments have failed! Our advocate who stood up for some of the business owners impacted was the one who pushed for an encampment strategy, researched them in other centers and came up with a plan that would work, but the city has built the process up to be a major time consuming effort and the people who are in those encampments have learned how to manipulate the process and people. He tried to get changes made to make the plan work, but no one listened!
He now refuses to waste his time calling in encampments, because he watched a large team of police, fire, encampment specialists and city workers move in to tear down encampments, clean up the mess, while the encampment residents waited nearby, and once all of the team left, they moved right back in and set up. Again and again and again and again! He is not able to comment right now or I am sure he would have a lot to say on this matter!
Non-profits the city helped fund with the taxpayer dollars would also enable the people by giving them tents and tarps to set up the encampments, so the taxpayer was paying for the tents and the removal and cleanup!
A complete waste of tax dollars!
A failure by this city paid team! They state of the tons of garbage they cleaned up as they say how successful it is! If it was that successful, successful at what? Employing people to deal with the encampments? It is not successful when they just move right back into where they were prior!
That is a large team of people who has to perform those duties, and when the encampment moves right back in after the team leaves, it is a complete waste of money in a never ending process. Truly a government ‘make work’ project that has zero effect! Does city hall care?
The impacts are always property damage, crime, threats and intimidation and high costs to the taxpayer by allowing these encampments, when the shelter has room for all of them! Will it take loss of life before the administration wakes up?
High rates of crime stem from these encampments and those who are allowed to wander all night, and nothing good comes from those who are out all night! My business and many others are damaged overnight, not in the daytime, but no one in our city will act to end this even though they know who is committing the crimes. This is a slow time of year because many seem to disappear in winter and then hit the streets in the warm seasons and we have to ask, where do they go?
The city has refused to listen to our concerns and the DBRZ says nothing and does nothing to help! In fact they want everyone to keep quiet and not speak about the crime in the area, thinking that if we say nothing, people won’t know! Are they on drugs as well?
We are frustrated by the inaction and you lost many faithful people who took the time to report these encampments of the people you call ‘most vulnerable’, who have now given up with your failed operation. These are criminals, not the most vulnerable!
Your failed operation costs the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and is a complete waste of tax dollars due to its lack of teeth!
It could be effective, but it is like you really don’t want it to work and end the issues of encampments! Someone is preventing that! Why would you not want it to work? Another make work project?
We have lost the Bow On Tong, the historic Lethbridge Hotel which caused loss of revenues of nearby businesses, multiple sheds, garages and even empty houses by these people! When are you going to act!
I won’t be taking the time to report nothing after you didn’t do anything but waste tax dollars and see the encampments remain in place of all the work done! Someone in leadership needs to wake up!