A lot's changed since we last reported on a recent rash of fires related to homelessness in town. In late April, Portland Fire and Rescue gave the Mercury preliminary numbers that suggested there'd been nine fires at homeless camps in recent months, and that none of them were set intentionally.

That data was surprising. The fire bureau's head PIO, Lt. Rich Chatman, had been quoted referring to "15 or 20" fires in recent months—a number concerning enough that investigators were looking into whether there might be an arsonist (or arsonists) at work.

Now the bureau's got far more comprehensive data to offer. After poring over records since February 8, when the fire bureau added a special signifier in its system denoting fires that were related to homelessness, the bureau's compiled a report, which it shared with the Mercury. PF&R now says there were 38 such fires from February 8 to April 26. Here's a map (locations are approximate in most cases).

As you can see, recent fires were clustered primarily in the Central Eastside and Downtown. There were almost none in Northeast Portland (and none at all in North Portland's Overlook Neighborhood, which has been especially vocal in decrying fire danger for camping within its bounds).

The fire bureau says the dots on that map aren't "exclusively indicative of a 'homeless camp,'" just related to homelessness in some way. Data suggests the fires have occurred in vehicles (3 fires) and structures (4), along with on roadways and parking lots, and in other outside properties. On average, there was a fire about every two days during this time period.

One notable finding: Nearly a quarter of these 38 fires (9 of them) were set intentionally, according to the fire bureau. "Intentional" fires are the second largest category of fire, by cause, listed in the report. The largest is "unknown" of which there are 14.

There's a difference between "intentional" fires and arsons, but it's muddled. According to federal definitions forwarded by PF&R, "intentional" indicates “deliberate misuse of heat source or a fire of an incendiary nature.” Arson, meanwhile, has more malicious intent involved. The federal definition is: “Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc.”

The fire bureau's identified four blazes since February 8 it considers arson, which involves malicious intent.

There's lots more in the bureau's data report. Check it out [PDF].