Fire destroys tents at NW Side’s Legion Park; curfew, other park rules set to be enforced March 17

by BRIAN NADIG

A fire at a homeless encampment at Legion Park, 3103 W. Peterson Ave., reportedly destroyed eight to 10 tents Friday night, Feb. 27, just 18 days before the city of Chicago and Chicago Park District are planning to clear out the tents.

No injuries were reported as a result of the fire, according to 39th Ward Samantha Nugent’s office.

The fire appeared to have destroyed all of the tents in the park’s northern encampment, with a new tent reportedly being installed there Saturday morning. The park also has a second encampment, and it remains intact.

Th city Department of Family and Support Services had representatives at Legion last night, providing outreach services. Earlier this year the city posted notices at the park, indicating that park curfew and other rules will be enforced starting Tuesday, March 17, and that tents will no longer be allowed at Legion.

Nugent has expressed health and safety concerns about the encampment, calling for its immediate closure last November following another fire there. She has said that the city should step up efforts to help find housing for those living at the parks.

In the past 2 years on the Northwest Side, several park encampment fires have been reported at Legion, Gompers, 4222 W. Foster Ave., and Eugene Field Annex, 5103 N. Pulaski Road.

Propane tanks are often among the items found among the debris after a fire. After the Feb. 27 fire at Legion, about 10 tanks, including one with a heating attachment, were found.

Recent fires at the three parks have not led to injuries, and most of them appear to have been accidental in nature, although witnesses at Eugene Field reported that a man living at the park in January threatened to start a fire there and reportedly was seen leaving a burning tent.

Some housing advocates have called for the park district to provide water and electrical access year round for those living at the parks and to allow the tents to remain. Currently electrical access is being provided at Eugene Field, and shower access reportedly has been allowed periodically at Gompers, where residents of the park’s encampment last year moved across the street to Eugene Field due to planned construction at the south end of Gompers.

No plans have been announced to clear out the encampment at Eugene Field, but city officials earlier this year in a letter to Nugent outlined its plan for Legion.

“We are working together to ensure that every person living in the encampment is connected to safe and stable emergency shelter and are assessed for housing. We are hopeful that during the first quarter of 2026, residents currently living in Legion Park will have been supported in moving indoors.

“This directed effort towards housing and shelter will prevent the encampment from returning at Legion Park, a policy that will be enforced by (park district) security and the city of Chicago,” the letter said.

Nugent has testified at a Chicago

Park District board of commissioners meeting that she attended a youth cross country meet at Legion and that there was a “full scale” tent encampment there, with issues of rats, drug activity and other problems. “The stench was horrific,” she said. “I’m … concerned about the public health implications of this situation.”

Last year the park district had makeshift living structures removed from along the park’s river embankment after a series of fires but has permitted tents to remain in other areas of Legion, where many homes along Jersey Avenue back up to the park, with no alley separating the backyards from the park, making it difficult for fire hoses to reach the embankment.

According to the Hollywood-North Park Community Association, the park district is requiring tents to be at least 100 feet from homes and businesses.

Some housing advocates have called for the distance to be 75 feet from homes or 50 feet from the property lines of homes and businesses.

The association is surveying its members on several encampment issues, including whether the tents should be allowed to remain after March 17.

The survey states the following:

“The non-profit organization Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness and a private group called Parks for All have asked the Hollywood-North Park Community Association to engage them in conversation about their proposal to allow people to live in the park indefinitely until such time as the residents agree to alternative housing options. The proposal calls on the city to provide people living in the park with access to utilities in the meantime.

“As a member-driven organization, the board of the HNPCA seeks your guidance before we engage in any conversations that involve taking a stance on this issue.

“Previously, the association lobbied for the park district to establish a minimum required distance to separate tents from homes and from one another so that any future fires would be unlikely to spread and cause harm. The park district’s revised guidelines include a required distance of 100 feet between tents and private homes or businesses.”

This is just part of today’s coverage. Get the full story - every article, every ad, every page. Subscribe now.

The Latest From Our Community