Fire Safety Tips For Compulsive Hoarders

Deaths from fires in the home are at an all-time low in Great Britain; incidents have reduced by 40% in the last ten years. However, increased awareness of problematic hoarding reveals that people who hoard remain a significantly more vulnerable group:

• It is estimated that between 2 and 5% of the population hoard – at least 1.2 million households across the UK
• It is estimated that only 5% of hoarders come to the attention of statutory agencies

Hoarding behaviours leading to risk of death from fire are acknowledged to me much more prevalent in older people:

• There were 271 fire deaths in Great Britain in 2012/13, of which 168 (62%) deaths were of people aged 60 or more
• During this period, people over the age of 60 were ten times more likely to die in a fire than those aged 17-24
• A London-based study carried out using data from 2011-2012 found evidence of 10 fire-related deaths where hoarding was present – all but one of the victims was over the age of 55
• An elders-at-risk program in Boston reported that 15% of their elderly clients exhibited severe hoarding problems, with similar levels reported by the Visiting Nurse Association of New York City

People living alone in private accommodation are especially vulnerable to hoarding-related fires:

• In a study done on 70 older adults who hoard, 55% were found to have never been married – the base rate for people never marrying by age 65 is only 5%
• Statistically, it is extremely rare for fatal fires in hoarding households to result in the death of more than one person

Research conducted into fire incidents and fatalities involving hoarding households reveals:

• Fires and deaths from fires in hoarding homes occur across a wide range of metropolitan areas and demographics
• Housing types most commonly involved in hoarding-related fire incidents:
• Owner-occupied 63%
• Public housing 23%
• Private rental 10%

67% of hoarding-related complaints mention it being a fire hazard. In interviews conducted as part of an extensive fire safety and hoarding study in Australia, researchers reported that:

• 35% of people who hoard did consider their clutter unhygienic
• 38% admitted having fallen in the home as a direct effect of clutter
• 47% considered their hoarding to be a fire hazard
• 25% of people who hoard did not believe their hoarding presented any sort of safety risk
• Reports by health officers and elder services caseworkers indicate that fewer than 50% of people who hoard fully recognise the severity of their problem – many appear to ignore or dramatically underestimate the level of clutter in their homes

The fire hazards resulting from hoarding behaviours can be broken down into two main categories: initiating hazards and enabling hazards.

Initiating hazards

• Hoarding itself does not usually present an initiating hazard, as hoarded items are rarely the source of ignition
• Examples of initiating hazards can include heating or cooking equipment, or electrical distribution equipment – these are more commonly used in unorthodox or potentially dangerous ways by people whose home environments have been compromised by hoarding
• Percentage of appliances not usable among elderly people who hoard:
      – Stove/oven: 58%
      – Fridge/freezer: 44%
      – Kitchen sink: 39%
      – Bathtub: 39%
      – Bathroom sink: 23%
      – Toilet: 11%
  4% of homes where a hoarding fire occurred in the Australian study were disconnected from the grid at the time of ignition
• The overall percentages of fires initiating from heaters, open flames, or lamps are similar among hoarding fires, fatal hoarding fires, and general fatal fires
• Electrical faults and – to a lesser extent – smoking are the most prevalent causes of fatal hoarding fires overall
• Smoking appears to cause relatively few fires in hoarding households compared to numbers for domestic fires in general, but data suggests that within hoarding households, fires started from smoking are over three times more likely to result in death

Enabling hazards

• Enabling hazards are defined as factors, items or scenarios “with potential to increase the severity of consequences resulting from an already-initiated fire”
• Hazard level is closely related to the time from established burning until Full Room Involvement (FRI)
• This time can range anywhere from one minute to 20 minutes for most normal-sized rooms
• The exact time depends on five factors:
      – room size
      – interior finish
      – contents clutter
      – contents material
      – kindling fuels
• Therefore, more clutter generally means a shorter time to FRI

Hoarding in homes increases fire risk because:

• Accumulation of possessions results in an abnormally high fuel load and greater opportunity for ignition • The more materials within a structure, the greater the heat release, the smoke and toxin releases
• Blocked exits and narrow internal pathways impede escape for the occupant and access for firefighters
• Non-functional gas or electricity may result in unsafe practices for cooking and heating • In many severely cluttered homes, it’s common to find unsafe electrical circuits that have become damaged through neglect, or by pets and vermin

Lack of access to doorways and other standard entries poses a threat both to occupants and firefighters attempting to enter a property

• Severely cluttered homes can obscure the extent or severity of a fire, meaning rescuers may misread the danger level from outside

If you or someone you know does store copious amounts of possessions in and around your home, you can help keep yourself safe from fire by following the advice below.

Ideally, these simple steps should be incorporated into a regularly scheduled clearance programme:

• Make it a priority to keep cooking areas clear, whether using orthodox equipment or a makeshift setup
• Remove any items placed on (or close to) heaters, lamps and other electrical equipment
• Do not store gas cylinders in the home – they are a serious hazard during a fire
  – If there is a medical need for gas cylinders, including oxygen, they should be kept upright and outdoors where possible
  – Never store cylinders in basements, under stairs or in cupboards with electric meters or equipment
• Smokers should always use a proper ashtray that won’t burn, placing it on a flat, stable surface
  – Never leave lit cigarettes unattended
• Candles and tea lights should be used in well-fitting, heat resistant holders, and placed on a flat, stable, heat-resistant surface away from combustible materials
  – Never leave lit candles unattended
• Install smoke alarms and test them weekly – your local fire service can assist and advise on this
  – Only 26% of hoarding households had a working smoke alarm in the Melbourne study, compared to the household average of 66%
  – 60% of hoarding households did not have any smoke alarms installed
  – 12% had malfunctioning or non-operational devices
• Plan and practise how to escape from your home in case of fire:
  – Identify at least two different escape routes, and keep them clear of possessions (including all doors and windows)
  – Store possessions on stable surfaces, and do not stack them to a height at which they become unstable – they could fall and block your escape
• Newspapers and mail stored in bulk are highly combustible and will cause a fire to spread rapidly – Sort through paper items on the day you receive them, and recycle on a regular basis
• In the event of a fire:
  – Do not attempt to put it out yourself
  – Leave your home immediately, and call the fire service from a safe location outside – Do not stop to collect possessions
  – Do not go back inside once you have escaped