After Fire, A Tale Of Compulsive Hoarding

BY Sally E. Bahner

At a Patrick Lane house fire last month, firefighters used an odd term in describing the fire. “Collyer,” they said in talking to each other.

They were referring to the brothers found dead in their New York mansion under more than 100 tons of junk. The year was 1947. Ever since then the term “Collyer brothers” has come to mean serious hoarding.

Assistant Fire Chief Shaun Heffernan took the example of the Patrick Lane fire to help lead a discussion on hoarding last week at the Canoe Brook Senior Center. He said it was time to let the public become aware of the problem and to find a way to seek help. He also wanted to let the public know that Branford was not immune from the hoarding disorder.

“We’ve seen it in Branford,” he said. “There have been a dozen or so cases…”

About 20 seniors showed up for the talk. Heffernan was joined by Jane Corvin, a clinical social worker with the Branford Counseling Center and Alex Cinotti and Barbara DeSerio of the East Shore District Health Department. They discussed the myriad reasons for hoarding and how to seek help to solve them.

Heffernan said that hoarding may lead to a fire and the destruction of a house, as it did at Patrick Lane April 17. It may prevent or delay firefighters and paramedics from getting into a blazing house. At Patrick Lane, firefighters also encountered high trees and shrubs that created a barrier from the street, making it difficult to get into the house..." More

Hoarding Adds to Danger of Hyde Park House Fire

One of Hyde Park's classic houses burned this morning, and while the owner made it out safely, the fire proved extremely difficult for firefighters because of what the owner had inside.

Local 12's Rich Jaffe spoke exclusively with the 95 year old woman who owns the home... and she knows all too well how the fire started.

Carolyn Detjen will soon be 96 years old. She's lived in the old home on Observatory Avenue since 1953. And for many of those years, since her husband died, Carolyn has been collecting stuff. She's a hoarder, and sadly, today, her compulsion to collect cost her her home..." More

Hoarding increases fire-fatality risk - study

By JO McKENZIE-McLEAN

Hoarders may be more at risk of dying if a fire breaks out in their house, a study has found.

Paula Beever, director of Fire Risk Management for the New Zealand Fire Service, said hoarding was a growing problem, and typically involved elderly men.

A recent Australian study has looked at hoarding from a fire-risk perspective and examined 10 years of Melbourne fire data and identified 48 hoarding fire incidents.

These accounted for 0.25 per cent of all residential fires in that period but made up 24 per cent of preventable fire fatalities.

Fires in hoarders' premises used more firefighting resources than the average residential fires, Beever said.

"There are often narrow internal pathways and blocked exits which make it difficult for people to get out and also make it hard for firefighters to get in to rescue them and attack the fire."

One in four people killed in accidental house fires in Melbourne since 2000 had been a "compulsive hoarder", the study found.

Christchurch area commander Dan Coward said hoarding could be a factor in 50 to 100 house fires each year in Canterbury – about 2 per cent of house fires.

Hoarding was a factor in five out of 282 accidental house fire fatalities between July 1995 and December 2008, he said..." More

Evanston fire: Hoarding is blamed in fire death

By Brian Cox

An 82-year-old man died in an Evanston house fire Tuesday morning surrounded by stacks of old magazines, newspapers, household goods and other hoarded items, officials said.

Evanston fire investigators say the cause of the blaze was accidental and may have been electrical. It began in the utility room next to the kitchen on the west side of the home in the 2100 block of Cleveland Street, officials said.

Authorities said the man killed in the blaze lived alone, and he may have been trapped in the one-story ranch-style home by a clutter of items.

"It was a hoarding situation," said Division Chief Tom Janetske. "There were some things dated from many years ago. There was a lot of debris around the house making it difficult to walk."..." More

CFA says hoarding adds to Knox fire risks

THE CFA has warned residents living in outer suburban areas such as Knox to be wary of the risk posed by compulsive hoarding during the upcoming bushfire season.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade recently released a report titled An Analysis of Fire Incidents Involving Hoarding Households .

The report analysed house fires in MFB-serviced areas and showed that compulsive hoarding - a mental health condition where sufferers collect large quantities of objects or animals - led to at least 48 serious fires from 2000 to the start of 2009.

It also highlighted that one in four people killed in accidental house fires since 2000 had been a compulsive hoarder..." More

Melbourne firefighters call for action on hoarding

BY SHAUN TURTON

ONE in four people killed in accidental house fires in Melbourne since 2000 has been a “compulsive hoarder”.

A new report shows compulsive hoarding, a mental health condition linked to the collection of large quantities of objects or animals, led to at least 48 serious house fires in Melbourne from 2000 to the start of this year.

And Metropolitan Fire Brigade community ageing strategist Julie Harris said another 16 “hoarding fires” had occurred since the report was finished.

Eleven people, all aged over 50, have been killed in hoarding fires since 2000 - representing about a quarter of deaths in accidental house fires.

The MFB report, An Analysis of Fire Incidents Involving Hoarding Households, found hoarding fires happened right across Melbourne and had a great impact on firefighting resources...

...The RSPCA has also taken a lead role in pushing for more government leadership on the issue.

RSPCA Victoria senior inspector Ali Jalbert said animal hoarding led to appalling conditions for animals.

She said many agencies encountered the problem, but more needed to be done to unify their approach. Clinical psychologist and hoarding expert Chris Mogan said the condition was “unrecognised and untreated”.

“It’s a psychological condition based on a different relationship with things – hoarders think differently about objects and possessions and sometimes animals,” he said.

The behaviour has been linked to conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dr Mogan said.

“We don’t really know exactly what causes it; there are some factors like personality factors, that need to hang on to everything,” he said..." More

Link: An Analysis of Fire Incidents Involving Hoarding Households

Picture: Mitch Bear