Fighting Hoarding Home Fires

4955 Peony Lane North,Plymouth MN 55346

11 February, 2023

Description

After years of researching fires that occur with hoarding conditions present, three common variables continue to dictate the attack operations. Using these three distinct variables can lead firefighters to success in rescue and fire suppression efforts. Time is the basis used to determine how bad the hoarding level will appear. Has the occupant lived there for two weeks or two decades? Geography is an extremely important variable to use, as rural environments will have an easier time identifying the presence of hoarding while having a harder time making access vs. a fire inside city limits, where there are codes to dictate the amount of clutter visible. The final variable is occupancy. Commonly hoarding can be found in single-family and multifamily dwellings. Determining the type of occupancy will dictate the tactics used due to access issues and the size of the interior living spaces. Presenter Ryan Pennington is a Captain/Paramedic with the Charleston West Virginia Fire Department.