The same day a blaze damaged the wooden underside of the Pattullo Bridge, smoke billowed up from beneath the Tri-Cities' Eleanor Ward Memorial Bridge.

Like Sunday's flames that shut down the Pattullo, the fire beneath the local bridge provided a place for a homeless couple to cook food and keep warm.

But since the Eleanor Ward Memorial Bridge is built from concrete and rebar, Coquitlam Fire and Rescue deputy chief Al Dutton said the local structure was not at risk of catching fire.

The homeless couple were apologetic when they were told to put out the small flames, Dutton added.

In Port Coquitlam, plans are already underway to protect the city's infrastructure from similar situations.

Soon the underlying areas of the city's bridges will be barred off from everyone except maintenance staff, who will have access through a gate, said Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore.

"In the past, we have had fires underneath our bridge structures and our fire department has been called out. It's been a homeless individual or individuals having a fire to keep warm or cook food," Moore said.

"If you're driving overtop of the Lougheed Highway Bridge or the Kingsway Bridge and you see smoke coming out from underneath, you call 911. It's a safety issue that we have to worry about. It is a concern with even a cement or steel structure."

While the city needs to protect its property from damage, Moore said it must also consider the welfare of all of its residents -- both those with homes and those without.

To address the issue, Moore said he is researching successful North American homelessness models, focused mainly on affordable housing initiatives. He is also assembling a homelessness action task force and hopes to implement a 10-year plan.

Similarly, Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini said government needs to invest in building more affordable housing to get people off the streets.

"You can't just deal with the symptom. You have to resolve the underlying problem. Let's take a look at our country right now. We have an abundance of softwood. We have softening markets. We have available labour and a need to sustain the jobs. If something's not done now, when is it going to be?" Trasolini said.

"I'm hoping that the provincial government and federal government, who are aware of the problem, recognize the opportunity as well to make some major investments in affordable housing. At a municipal level, we are here ready to zone and assist. We cannot be the principal capital source."

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart did not return calls by deadline, but spokesperson Therese Mickelson said Coquitlam has been proactive in working with community and government agencies to address homelessness.

Rob Thiessen, managing director of the Hope for Freedom Society, said the community must try to bridge the gap to reconnect the 220 homeless people who live in the Tri-Cities.

"When you become entrenched, homelessness is a fairly complex issue. It's not just as simple as people not having homes. There is a psychology that creeps in that can be fairly complex. If you're homeless for seven to nine months, there'll be some significant changes in the way you look at everything," Thiessen said.

"Homeless people become disconnected with their culture at large. We have to do little things to help them reconnect. You're dealing with a subculture of people that has a couple fairly significant issues. Many of them are dealing with drug addiction and many of them are dealing with mental illness. It's overcoming a lot of stuff. They essentially become used to being invisible.

"If you and I were to strip away all the things we take for granted, all of the creature comforts, we also would change. We would not react and do the things that we normally would because we would be stripped away of our human dignity. And so we would hide and we would not really want to engage."

Preventative measures to keep homeless people away from bridges will only push the population to other places, Thiessen added.

"We have to continue to work on the whole deal from one end to the other to resolve the issue of homelessness, from triage work we're doing in the trenches to providing mat programs and emergency shelters. The other end of the spectrum is at some point in time being able to increase affordable housing in the community," he said, adding that most of the local homeless population grew up in the Tri-Cities.

"I think one of the most significant things that we can do is when we look at homeless people, don't look through them. Just look at them and talk to them. You don't have to have a long conversation, but just acknowledge that they're alive and they're there. That means a lot.

"Just to acknowledge them as being part of the fabric of our society by speaking to them and being somewhat friendly is a big step because they have become used to feeling invisible and devalued."

jmcfee@thenownews.com