Firefighters Battle Blaze At Downriver Hoarder House
TAYLOR (WWJ) - A home, packed to the ceiling with junk, went up in flames Wednesday morning in Taylor.
Firefighters poured water through the windows of the abandoned one-story cinder block house that caught fire before 5 a.m.
Taylor Fire Chief Bob Tompos told WWJ Newsradio 950's Ron Dewey this is a hoarder situation -- the worst he's ever seen.
The previous owner left so much garbage stacked inside the house, firefighters couldn't get inside."The would have had to crawl ... the ceiling's about seven, eight feet and they would have had to crawl up seven feet to get to the top of the pile," Tompos said.
Besides fueling the fire, Tompos said the other problem is they really don't know what could be buried in there.
"You have people who hoard, you know, fuel oil, they horde ammunition or black powder ... because that stuff becomes really unstable, too. So we're trying to be cautious," Tompos said.
The basement is packed with junk as well.
Tompos said the only way to get to the hot spots was to tear down the walls with a backhoe.
No injuries were reported.
