An Indianapolis man who died in a house fire recently shows how hoarding can cause issues for firefighters responding to calls, the department's fire chief said.
Clutter and debris throughout the house hampered crews'' efforts to battle a residential blaze early Tuesday, WRTV-6 reports. It took firefighters about a half hour to find George Arndt, 62, at his house, where he was pronounced dead.
"Three feet of debris and excessive clutter throughout the entire structure made access to the interior of the structure and search difficult for arriving crews," Battalion Chief Rita Reith told WRTV following the fire.
Besides Tuesday's fatal fire, the Indianapolis Fire Department has seen six other incidents in which hoarding and excessive clutter created issues for firefighters, according to the TV station.
"When you're stacked from floor to ceiling and you can't move through, it's like a conga line, and we can't move, we can't get in and we can't reach the seat of the fire, we can't do proper searches," said Chief Howard Stahl, adding that the type of items being kept, such as propane tanks, can be especially dangerous for firefighters.
