A Los Gatos homeowner is worried people living in a downtown homeless encampment will start a wildfire, killing themselves, his family, tenants and neighbors.

John Whitney says he’s been trying for years to get authorities to clean up the encampment, to no avail.

The encampment runs alongside Highway 17 behind the post office.

There’s a blackboard at the encampment’s entrance that reads, “Stay Alive.”

“This is a fire hazard right here,” Whitney said, pointing to a discarded pizza box, sleeping bags and garbage bags. “The amount of dumping is unbelievable. Last year, Caltrans came out but nothing happened.”

Caltrans did not respond to requests for comment.

But Town Manager Laurel Prevetti said the town is already working with Caltrans on the problem.

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“We have worked with them in the past to clear other encampments,”Prevetti said in an email. “We are working with our contacts in that agency to address this current situation. As you can imagine, the state is inundated with homeless camp removal requests. Caltrans assesses the request, determines necessary personnel and equipment, and schedules the job of removing property/trash and the people.”

Prevetti went on to say the town has offered transients social services when camps have been cleared in the past.

“The town has also discussed the potential wildfire concern with the fire department,” she said.

The fire department was out about a year ago, Whitney said, when a fire was reported at the encampment. But Santa Clara County Fire Capt. Bill Murphy said it’s not uncommon to have small fires in the freeway right-of-way.

“Some are the result of warming/cooking fires started by the homeless population,” Murphy said in an email.

He indicated he’d ask firefighters from the University Avenue fire station to check the encampment for fire hazards.

What firefighters will find is anywhere from four to six people who have built homesteads—one is a shack with a solar array on its roof and a punching bag in its “yard.” There are also a few couches, a boombox and even an old kitchen sideboard storing canned goods.

The day the Los Gatos Weekly-Times visited, Cassie Fuqua and a man known as the General were getting ready to barbecue chicken on a small charcoal grill.

“When we’re done, we’ll keep the embers in the bottom, put the lid on and close the vents,” Fuqua said. “I have a fire extinguisher being delivered.”

There were a few fire extinguishers in evidence around the encampment and Fuqua has jerry-rigged a 5-gallon water bottle with a pump. But water still has to be carried in.

“The first thing I did when I got here in February was to organize the garbage removal,” Fuqua said. “We’re doing the best we can. There’s no blaming or shaming in our lifestyle.”

Whitney, meantime, was undeterred after visiting the encampment.

“The most acute problem is if a fire starts we’re all going to die,” he said. “You’ve got all this fuel on a hill, and you’ve got guys lighting campfires at the bottom of the hill.”

Whitney lives near the encampment at the end of Park Avenue. In addition to his family home, he has nine tenants living in six adjacent cottages.

“The homeless really aren’t a danger to us, other than fire,” Whitney said. “We haven’t had any thefts, but sometimes you hear gunshots and screaming in the middle of the night. Last year, one of my tenants smelled smoke and called 911. A homeless guy who was raging drunk had lit a campfire, but they didn’t arrest him.”

That said, Whitney has nothing but kind words for rank and file police officers. It’s the higher-ups whose attention he wants.

“The process is broken. If we can get the local cops, sheriff, Caltrans, the Town Council and maybe the CHP together we might be able to solve this,” Whitney said. “You’ve got to monitor the situation. As a homeowner, I could help monitor, but it’s about coordination.”

He wants the encampment “cleared and cleaned.”

“The ideal solution would be to start a community effort to keep them out,” Whitney said. “We can’t solve the homeless problem, but give us a buffer zone, put up a fence, so they can’t go down there.”

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church outreach coordinator Jo Greiner knows the homeless who live at the encampment and was unsure where they would go if they’re kicked out.

“These people don’t want to be in a shelter,” Greiner said. “They don’t like the curfews imposed by shelters and they do like living outside, the independence of it and the communal aspect.”

Greiner knows most of the homeless people in Los Gatos because she runs St. Luke’s Pantry which provides them with food, clothing and toiletries.

Prevetti, meantime, asked the public to be patient because it could take “a few months” more work with Caltrans to resolve the issue.