The City of Seattle has removed homeless man Steven Irwin’s makeshift “ticking time bomb” cabin and gold mine from a public park, but officials fear it may take years to restore the area to its normal condition.
City workers entered the area in Dr. Jose Rizal Park Wednesday morning, removing a treadmill, washing machine, beer kegs, and more from Irwin’s camp before leveling out the ground, according to Fox 13.
“The City’s Unified Care Team was onsite at Jose Rizal Park today to clean an encampment area following SPD engagement at the site,” Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office confirmed to the outlet.
Workers also removed multiple propane heaters and stoves installed by Irwin in his encampment, frightening many who live near and regularly use the park over the camp’s unsafe conditions.
“This man had four kegs of beer. He had at least three propane tanks,” park steward Craig Thompson explained to the outlet.
“He had reportedly 40 gallons of gasoline on site. He had a generator. He had a television set. He had a washing machine. There was a great threat of fire at this location. There’s no other way to describe it.”
The Seattle Police Department arrested Irwin at the encampment that morning.
Irwin faces charges of property destruction and possession of burglary tools in Seattle Municipal Court and is currently being held at the King County Jail.
Dozens of trees were found uprooted and lying around his camp while workers cleared out the space.
The damage is far worse than what Irwin had previously been arrested for in October.
Last year, he allegedly stole an excavator from a local construction site to remove trees around the area to start construction on his jury-rigged campsite, which is about 3 miles from Seattle’s Space Needle.
“It is going to take years to restore the park,” Thompson told KOMO News. “It is going to take a committed effort. The city has to put a plan together and stick to it.”
The extent of the damage is so bad that officials with the Seattle Parks and Recreation have yet to determine how much it will cost to replenish the area.
“We need to have a consistent and accountable approach to this situation because otherwise, the city will lose this park,” Thompson explained.
Irwin has stayed committed to his claims that he had permission to build the structure in the park despite the city having to dish out $15,000 to repair the damage he had done when he was arrested last year.
He also claimed to be digging for “gold and diamonds” on the hillside in one section of his encampment.
“The amount of damage that was done is truly considerable,” Thompson told the outlet.
There have been multiple efforts by the homeless outreach group We Heart Seattle to get Irwin off the site since last year, all of which have failed.
Founder and Executive Director of We Heart Seattle, Andrea Suarez, was leading the charge on resolving the situation due to the potential danger Irwin may unintentionally inflict on himself and others — adding the homeless man has no plans to stop his building.
Suarez first labeled the illegal renovations Irwin had done at the park a “ticking timebomb” over his unsafe use of “kerosene, propane, and gasoline.”
She had even offered to pay for six months of rent for Irwin to find adequate housing, but he refused.
“I’ve even offered to pay for his first six months of housing, and he said, ‘That’s great. I’m still going to keep my cabin in the woods,’” Suarez told the outlet last week.
