They can't cook in the kitchen. They can't eat at the kitchen table.The level of clutter in their house is really impairing their ability to do day-to-day functioning.
They fill their attics to the point of potential collapse! An accumulation of boxes as well as newspapers and books can lead to severe stress on structural components. The floor systems can sag, crack or even collapse, causing damage to a home and its occupants.Homes-turned-death traps!!! A huge public safety and community risk.
The potential pitfalls in the homes of hoarders... people who can't stop acquiring items and have a hard time getting rid of their belongings, include fire and injury.
Four reasons for risk:
1. Fire. The accumulation of materials around the home could increase the risk of a blaze. The top causes of fires are related to cooking, heating and electricity. In the kitchen, an accumulation of grease, food items and trash increases the potential for a fire. Paper or other flammable materials near heating systems or electrical wires boost the risk of fire and also burn quickly.
2. Liability. If a friend or family member is injured in a hoarder's home, a claim could be filed against the home owner's policy. The potential for injury is one reason it's common for hoarders' homes to be condemned, and should be!
3. Blocked exits. Possessions that obstruct or block exits could make it more difficult to escape during an emergency and more difficult for Emergency Personnel to enter a home.
4. Poor maintenance. Hoarders are likely to delay addressing roof leaks and electrical, heating or plumbing problems. In many cases, the heating equipment no longer functions because of blocked vents or equipment. Sometimes, occupants will use kerosene or space heaters, which create an immediate fire hazard because they usually are placed amid newspapers and other combustible materials.
It's a fact, hoarders are endangering their own lives as well as safety services when called. Fire fighting hasn't changed all that much in 100 years. It's a lot of crawling and feeling your way in the heat and smoke to find the flames and those trapped. That process becomes exponentially more dangerous for victims and firefighters in hoarder homes. Perhaps you've seen on television the piles in hoarder houses. So much stuff you can barely get around. Such obstructions are a house of horrors for us firefighters and others in the Emergency Services field.
Stacks of newspapers, cans and other trash form veritable walls between a firefighter and their victim(s) ... between the firefighter and the fire source. The very nature of the combustible material creates extreme heat that can result in a backdraft and explosion, putting our firefighting personnel at risk.
These fires get a lot hotter a lot quicker!
Fighting the fire is a problem!
Exiting is a problem.
As firefighters, we are under a lot of panic stricken seconds in determining how we should attack a fire so it won't take off... how to protect our personnel and how to get to anyone trapped inside... and get them out from the hot fires that typically rage at the debris-filled homes of hoarders.
There are not a lot of resources, and nobody is doing much with it, and it's a huge public safety and community risk. Making matters worse is that after a hoarder is identified, and their home stripped of junk, it takes only a few months for them to refill it and return it to its prior state.
We often see hoarders in this line of work. It's frustrating! All that stuff is there because it got put there. It makes perfect sense, to them. I understand compulsive hoarding is a disorder, but I also know enough to accept that I don't understand it. I also don't have to like the fact that it puts me and my men in harms way, more than the usual call. I am not judging. Simply making an observation.
It's a delicate matter. You can help if you see a problem home in your neighborhood. We have to get the right people to investigate these homes-turned-death traps!!! We need to look around our communities, identify problem homes and report them before it's too late! (Child Protective Services (CPS), Adult Protective Services (APS), the Health Department, Zoning and Code Enforcement, the Division of Fire/Fire Code Enforcement, and Animal Control. If you have a hoarding task force in your area, they may be able to direct you to other resources, as well.)
It sure would be nice not to pick up the newspaper and read a headline or worse... find our crew in the headlines of:
"... Local Fire Crew Fought in Vain to Save a Two-story House Because Ceiling to Floor Walls of Cans and Boxes Made it Impenetrable..."
Bottom line, hoarders put others at risk as well as their own lives!
Have a fire safe day!
