Minn. Chief: Hoarding Played Role in Fatal Fire

Thomas John Harris kept every book, magazine and newspaper he read. They consumed his life and his home.

Last week, he died trapped by those possessions.

"I was shocked that he died the way he did," his daughter Elizabeth Harris said this week. She recalled her father's cluttered life and how he let it define him.

"Maybe he is in a better place now," she said.

Harris, 60, died of smoke inhalation July 25 after his house in Linwood caught fire about 3:50 a.m.

When firefighters arrived at 23840 Lyons St., they found most of Harris' house engulfed in flames. Fighting the fire became pretty much impossible.

The unexpected obstacles began with piles of papers that blocked the front door.

"It was pretty much paper and magazines. There was clutter from the floor level to ceiling level," Linwood Fire Chief Darryl Ballman said.

The only entrance to the house was through a back door, but the back of the house had been swallowed by flames, and the second floor had collapsed onto the first level.

At that point, the fire chief decided it was too dangerous to go inside.

Firefighters stuck hoses through the windows, but piles of clutter were getting in the way.

Such clutter typically fuels a blaze, making it burn hotter and faster, added St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard.

Not helping was a hole in the roof of Harris' home likely caused by a storm-felled tree. Air coming through that hole whipped the flames even more, Ballman said.

The entire

house eventually collapsed.

Harris, the sole resident of the home, was found buried under debris about 9:25 a.m. His death was deemed accidental, and the fire's cause is being investigated.

AN ISOLATED LIFE

Elizabeth Harris described her father as a hermit.

Neighbors who had lived next to him for years didn't know much about him, they said after the fire. They described him as a very private, isolated person who kept to his home.

The house, which sat on a wooded lot on the Anoka-Chisago county line, was not well maintained, neighbors noted.

Even his daughter hadn't been to the house or seen her father since her parents divorced about 12 years ago after a difficult marriage.

But she does remember the house and the papers, magazines and other items that filled it.

She noticed as a child, when the family moved to Stacy, that her father had started collecting stuff.

She even remembers him keeping every flier and handout after trips to the Minnesota State Fair.

Papers would cover the kitchen table, leaving just a few spots for the family to sit and eat. And outside the house, six or seven old cars always cluttered the wooded lot.

"He was a hoarder," Elizabeth Harris said.

And her father, whom

she refers to as Tom, must have gotten worse since the divorce, she said.

Harris always kept the front door open when she lived there, she recalled. So it was shocking to hear about the piles of stuff that firefighters described blocking the home's main entrance.

HOARDING SYMPTOMS

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America describes hoarding as the compulsive acquiring, saving and searching for items of little or no value.

Unlike collectors, hoarders do not proudly display or talk about their possessions, the organization notes. Instead, they typically become embarrassed by the clutter and might isolate themselves as a consequence.

They often believe their possessions might become valuable in the future, hold sentimental value or are irreplaceable, according to the association.

And over the years, the stacks of items can grow out of control, eventually becoming hazardous.

Despite the dangers, it is hard for authorities to know which houses to inspect and which homeowners need help unless family, friends or neighbors call authorities, Zaccard said.

There had been no such complaints about Harris' house, Linwood fire investigator Kendall Minske said after the fire.

Danya P. Hernandez can be reached at 651-228-5116. Follow her at twitter.com/DanyaPH.

GETTING HELP

Online resources for hoarders and their families:

Obsessive Compulsive Foundation -- ocfoundation.org/hoarding. Provides educational material on hoarding and links to professional help.

Coon Rapids Housing Department -- ci.coon-rapids.mn.us/housing/excessivestorage.htm. Includes checklists, advice and resources for dealing with hoarding.

Clutterers Anonymous -- clutterersanonymous.net. Includes a list of local meeting sites for people dealing with hoarding issues.

Copyright 2012 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service