Tragedy: Hoarder's House Burns Down on Christmas

Our neighbourhood hoarder died of smoke inhalation when his house burned down on Christmas Night. It took the Fire Department 2 days to put out the fire and 4 days to find his body, because the house was stuffed tight, floor to ceiling, wall to wall crap. I was in his house 20 years ago, and it was only tiny tunnels in his diameter through the crap. The Police are investigating it as a homocide. All this is right across the alley from my kitchen window. I'd known the guy for decades, and he was a good person. He was just very compulsive, and hoarded everything into his house and yard and into 4 Renault 4cv's and 1 VW bus. He had no family and a couple ladies were feeding him, sort of like a stray cat. It's all awful.

Photographer:
herbert-4
Uploaded:
2012-01-26
Tags:
fire hoard hoarder house fire tragedy
Camera:
Yashica Electro 35 GSN (available in our shop)
Film:
Kentmere 400
City:
Tujunga
Country/region:
United States
Year:
2011
Time:
night
Albums:
Tragedy: House Fire on Christmas Night 2011

5 Comments

  1. hey_god
    hey_god ·

    A terrible tragedy! What a pity that there are such events...

  2. domemerson
    domemerson ·

    My apologies for family and friends...

  3. torild
    torild ·

    Quite a story, and especially when it happens in your neighbourhood.

  4. ipdegirl
    ipdegirl ·

    How very sad. A similar thing happened in my neighborhood when I was a kid--house on fire on Christmas Eve. It makes you realize how impermanent everything is.

  5. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    @ipdegirl It's April 3rd and the cleanup just started last week, slowly. The last 3 months, the local tweakers and thieves have been trying to loot the wreckage. I hope they all get tetanus!

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