EUGENE, Ore. — Investigators think homeless campers are to blame for a fire in an abandoned building’s basement.
Eugene fire crews responded to a former senior center, the Trude Kaufman Senior Center, and found flames in the elevator shaft. Investigators say there was evidence people had been squatting at the location.
“We see it periodically, especially when the weather’s cold and people are out and about, and they’re looking for places and they’re going to the normal places you’d think they go–the shelters, the warming centers, things like that–and they’re finding these buildings and things that are open,” said Det. Steve Williams, Eugene Police Department.
Eugene Police warns property owners who own vacant buildings to secure those properties and prevent people from camping in them.
