There's no word of any serious injuries following a fire that destroyed at least five tents at the Pig's Eye homeless encampment in St. Paul.
The blaze Thursday night comes less than a week before the encampment is scheduled to be cleared, and 140 residents evacuated.
St. Paul Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith says all of the items affected by the fire were owned by one person known as "Tony."
People staying at the encampment told authorities that Tony had left the area earlier in the day.
The encampment is located along the Mississippi River near Fish Hatchery Road and Warner Road in southeast St. Paul.
The city plans to close it on Wednesday, something the residents are not happy about.
"This has happened before and as far as we know they're coming in with bulldozers and bulldozing our stuff," a resident told WCCO Radio earlier this month. "And people will go to jail, and lose their things, and have to go scatter and hide. And, I mean, we have the resources and they just gatekeep them all. We have real resources. We have hotels, like people can really get in on lists, and wait lists, and stuff like that. And they're not. I don't understand."
St. Paul City Council members have approved transferring just over $1 million to Ramsey County to expand bed capacity at shelters ahead of the September 5 encampment closure at Pig's Eye Park.
