Chamber of Hoarders Online Blog

If your house catches fire while you are inside, what would you do?  This message is shared with people of all over the world by first responders.  The question that is asked most often is “how do you get out if a fire happens?”  For a person afflicted with compulsive hoarding disorder this task may not be possible as their exits have slowly became

On April 6 th , 2013 I attended the Wyoming County Fire School held in Saulsville, WV at the Southern WV Community College. During my 6+ years of service in the Fire and EMS field, training like this is normal. I registered with about 30 other first responders for a class called “Hoarding Fires” taught by Charleston Firefighter/Paramedic Ryan Penni

[caption id="attachment_323" align="alignright" width="200"] Hoarder Fire 4/2013 [caption id="attachment_324" align="alignright" width="200"] Hoarder Fire 4/2013

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com . he SPCA rescues nearly two dozen cats out of a Philadelphia home, after it catches fire this evening. NBC10's Chris Cato talked to a neighbor who lives on the 800 block of Medway Road in Bustleton, and was the first to spot the flames. "I ran back there and looked out and there was flames coming out

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – After an elderly man died in a house fire in Huntington during the weekend, firefighters are warning about a hazard many of us have in our own homes: clutter. Huntington firefighters had to break second-floor windows to get inside the Madison Avenue home Saturday morning to save 87-year-old Joseph Martin. Upstairs rooms f

  DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG   http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/03/one-killed-in-cheverly-fire--86910.html       Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/21840258/woman-found-dead-after-fire-in-cluttered-home#ixzz2PE7RrWco Follow us: @myfoxdc on Twitter | myfoxdc on Facebook

Hello 911, what’s your emergency?  If you were to dial 911 and report a house on fire, you will be asked if anyone is inside the house.  This is a common question that us, firefighter, must ask ourselves on every fire that we pull up on.  As the first arriving firefighters, you must try to find out if the occupant of the home is still inside.  This

Here is a Guest Post From Dr. Richard Gasaway's Website on Situational Awareness in Hoarder Homes.  Dr. Gasaway is a worldwide leader in educating first resonders in situational awareness.  Make sure to check out his website samatters.com Because SAMATTERS......   I want to take this opportunity to introduce the Situational Awareness Matters c

  Here is a video from Sheperdstown WV illustrating the challenges faced by firefighters dealing with heavy content environments   Watch as the firefighters climb up, perform a search, and then attack from the sides to provide a safe fire attack.

Good afternoon from the Chamber of Hoarders.  We would like to announce the launch of a case study on fires with Hoarding Conditions present.  You will find an attached document with a  questionnaire regarding any fires that you may have ran with hoarding conditions. [caption id="attachment_248" align="alignright" width="134"] Photo Courtesy of She

 Here are the results of the recent Hoarder fire survey sent out by the Chamber of Hoarders Staff.  Huge “thank you” to the USFA for sharing survey with the fire service community.  The response was overwhelming. 1.       Have you ever responded to a fire with Hoarder Conditions: Yes: 100%             No   0.00% 2.       How long did it take you to

 

Crews fight flames, heavy smoke at home  

While  studying Compulsive Hoarding Disorder and the effects that it has on today’s first responders one common problem keeps coming up.  Dealing with the occupants of these homes can prove to be a challenging problem  if you  are tasked with an emergency inside their Hoarded Environment. Interaction with the people who collect, accumulate, and acq

As I returned home from teaching the Heavy Content class to 25 firefighters from West Virginia and Ohio my phone began to ring.  “You will never believe this” was the beginning on our conversation.  Turns out that the Point Pleasant Fire Department, the host of the program, was dispatched on a confirmed working fire and they found Hoarding Conditio

Highrise Fire Audio in Hoarding Conditions Read more from Firefighting in Canada Ontario Fire Marshal Ted Wieclawek used blunt language to describe the worst hoarding fire in Canada, the September 2010 highrise fire at 200 Wellesley St. in Toronto: The tremendous growth and spread of the fire was a result of the excessive amount of combustible mate

Welcome back in the Chamber of Hoarders! Now that our California trip is over it’s time to continue our mission of protecting emergency responders from the dangers associated with Hoarding.  One of the biggest learning points given when teaching this topic is the need to double estimate burn times and assume that collapse could happen at any time,

TAYLOR (WXYZ) - Authorities in Taylor battled a house fire Wednesday morning that they say was clogged with debris. Police closed a section of Goddard Road near Oak Street around 5:30 a.m. where the home was burning. They said it looks like a hoarder may have occupied the home at one point. The large amount of debris stored in the house fueled the