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As if firefighting isn’t difficult enough, the results of
hoarding are making it even more difficult for firefighters to do their jobs
effectively and efficiently as possible. In an article from
The Atlantic, Olga
Khazan writes that hoarding is not only making house fires much more dangerous,
it is putting firefighters and residents at even more risk of being harmed. “Earlier
this month, an Ohio firefighter was hurt in a fire where hoarding was so sever
that firefighters couldn’t enter part of the house,” she reports.
Firefighters already have to deal with difficult conditions
such as dense smoke, total darkness and limited air supply. Hoarding adds to
the difficulty by creating “maze-like conditions” throughout the structure.
Clutter blocks exits, safe passage ways and can trip up residents (and
firefighters) when trying to escape. In addition, paper and other flammable
objects act like kindling, which intensifies a fire.
According to the article, hoarding “is a psychological ailment
that was once considered to be similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder, but is
now a distinct diagnosis.” The article goes on to say that, “Among the
condition’s many devastating mental and physical consequences is that it can
make the sufferer more likely to die in a fire.”
In the author’s research, she found that the firefighters
she interviewed said they see hoarding conditions in about 25% of the homes
they enter. This could possibly be connected to the aging U.S. population, as
hoarding is more common among the elderly. Or, another reason could simply be
because people have more “stuff.”
To help the hoarding problem, some firefighters have joined
hoarding task forces in local communities to help clean up hoarders’ homes, as
well as training to fight fires in these conditions.
