PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A man died in a tent fire in Portsmouth Monday morning, according to a deputy fire chief with Portsmouth Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services.
Fire crews from Portsmouth responded to a 9-1-1 call in the 10 block of Shea Street for reports that "a possible shed was on fire and that a man was inside," according to Deputy Chief Justin R. Arnold.
News 3 reached out to Arnold Monday to try to get more information about the fire but did not get a response.
“When we pulled up to the house, we saw that there was a fire," said Alexis Mateus, who saw the fire as she was coming home from work.
She lives across the street from where the fire happened. When she saw the fire, she quickly got her son inside her home.
“Fire and ambulances pulled up and then not long after that lots and lots of police cars," said Mateus.
Mateus didn't know anyone had died until News 3 told her during the interview.
“That kind of just made my heart drop a little bit," Mateus said.
When firefighters arrived, they found a tent, not a shed, on fire and a man inside the tent who had been burned.
He was pronounced dead just after 8:30 a.m.
While the identity and residence of the deceased has not been confirmed, it is a time of year when homeless and displaced individuals are at increased risk due to the colder weather.
Virginia has one of the lowest homeless rates in the nation, according to a 2020-2021 report to the Virginia House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees. It said Virginia was fourth-lowest.
"Currently, the rate of homelessness per 10,000 people on average in Virginia is 6.8, and remains the fourth lowest in the nation (Statista, 2021). This is compared with a national average of 18."
Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless is a nonprofit that provides shelter and services to people who don't have a place to stay.
“We serve single adults," said Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless Executive Director Dr. Darlene Sparks Washington. She recommends anyone living outside get to a shelter if there is space available.
The nonprofit initially had a shelter program only during the winter months but now operates it year-round.
“When I first started working here, even when the winter shelter was over, that first week I cried every night because all I could think about was souls. That’s somebody’s mother, somebody’s father, somebody’s sister, somebody’s brother who’s sleeping outdoors in a place not meant for human habitation," said Washington. "We have to do everything possible to get individuals into shelter. When they can take care of the basic need of having a roof over their head that’s safe, then they can focus on the other things in their life.”
As of Monday afternoon, the cause of the fire was unknown and the victim had not been identified.
