Saturday, October 10, 2009

Valley Hoarders Endanger Themselves and Emergency Responders

A Fresno County woman who doesn't want to be identified, describes her neighbor as a compulsive pack rat. Experts call it hoarding.

The neighbor said, "It's terrible. In fact, I don't know how she lived in there. It was so wall-to-wall everything, she had boxes and the backyard is filled with all the stuff they're still pulling out of the house."

Firefighters say the stacks of boxes and clutter inside the Tarpey Village home was so massive they couldn't get in to put out a fire in June.

Cal Fire Captain Mike Bowman said, "It was stacked 4 to 5 feet high, boxes inside the house. We had to go to the roof instead and cut holes for the smoke so they could see inside." The anonymous neighbor said, "I was afraid my house was gonna catch fire because it was so close."..." More & video