Cluttered house ignites, makes firefighting difficult

This article about a fire in Portland, Oregon really makes the point about how severe clutter is actually a life threatening safety hazard.    Here is a clip from the article

When fire crews arrived, they tried to get inside the home to see if anyone was there, but they had some trouble in their search because they found the house full of clutter.

"There were pathways through each of the rooms that was about waist-high - newspapers, t-shirts, magazines," said Lt. Allen Oswalt with the Portland Fire Bureau.  "And you just had these pathways to get through the rooms.  The doors that would open off the rooms were blocked with waist-high storage of things, so it made it really difficult.  Plus all that adds to the fire load - it's all paper and it burns really easily.  We didn't even get a primary search done for about 45 minutes, which is not the way we like to do it."

See photos and read the rest of the story here:

http://www.katu.com/news/17678414.html

If you are struggling with clutter, here are some help for hoarding resources.

Also, consider signing up for my 3 session Teleclass series:  GETTING UNSTUCK! Releasing the Emotional, Physical, and Belief Clutter Keeping You Stuck in a Pattern of Stress, Overwhelm and Frustration! 

HOARDERS ARE WELCOME

If you have ever wondered if you are a hoarder, or if you know you suffer from compulsive hoarding, you are welcome in this class.  One of the common traits of all hoarding behavior is that the idividual is very creative and can think of millions of reasons why any item is valuable.  If this describes you, we invite you to join us!  We will be focusing on addressing the underlying beliefs thoughts that cause people to experience anxiety in letting go of things. Learn More Here

GETTING UNSTUCK! Releasing the Emotional, Physical, and Belief Clutter Keeping You Stuck in a Pattern of Stress, Overwhelm and Frustration! 

 

Comments

[Claire Tompkins]

Hi, Ariane,
I met a firefighter at a party once who told me that clutter is a common problem in his line of work. He estimated that every 3rd or 4th house was cluttered to the point of being dangerous! And, as organizers know, these houses are anywhere and everywhere; you can't tell from the outside. They're a danger to their neighbors as well.

Claire

[Alex]

The idea of our clutter posing such an extreme hazard scares me! I've fleetingly thought/feared it, but didn't realize it actually happened. Thanks for the article! The story will definitely serve as more inspiration to de-clutter my place...

I like your blog a lot; I stumbled here from a Google search :) Hope to see you posting more soon!