Article: 87 year old hoarder facing eviction (warning: incredibly sad)

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Here is the deal: If you choose to have kids and then you complain about it endlessly because you "gave up your life" for the kids. Then you ought not have ever been a parent. Boom! I said it.

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the deeper truth is if you complain about having given up your life to kids you might just be looking for something to blame your life on (if it wasn't kids it would be that 'wretched spouse' you married - they ruined everything, or aging parents - admittedly at times a genuine burden, or etc..) But by no means do I think everyone needs to have kids. It works best when it's intended and wanted and thought out. I think some may have issues with the adult children living at home with this old woman and thus mooching off her, but they may be doing that to perform a "caretaking" role, as an elderly person may need a lot of caretaking. If you know not, judge not ..

It's just sad that the kids didn't help her clean the house enough to pass inspection so they all aren't in this terrible position.

Fire Investigation is an extremely technical vocation that takes years of education and experience to become proficient at. And investigation often results in a finding of undetermined origin. An expert in fire hazards can examine a hoarders residence and determine that no fire hazard exists in a situation where a layman might perceive a hazard. A layman could never qualify to testify before a judge when the government has asked for judicial intervention and court order to correct a dangerous situation inside a private residence. Nobody is going to enter this residence without a court order and an affidavit of probable cause detailing the facts that lead the government to feel compelled to act. There is no role for a layman in this process except for as a reporting person.

Hoarding is not the only thing to watch out for with older people and fires. I did a couple of volunteer things with Red Cross this year where we went out with the local fire department and installed and replaced smoke and CO alarms, replaced batteries (Red Cross is providing the alarms for free, it's a pretty nice deal). It was primarily older people and it surprised me how many had dead alarms, or were way over 10 years old. Last time I was out there was one older, very lucid, very intelligent woman, with a beautiful, immaculate home - and not a single alarm was functional. Scary.

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Originally Posted by creaker

Hoarding is not the only thing to watch out for with older people and fires. I did a couple of volunteer things with Red Cross this year where we went out with the local fire department and installed and replaced smoke and CO alarms, replaced batteries (Red Cross is providing the alarms for free, it's a pretty nice deal). It was primarily older people and it surprised me how many had dead alarms, or were way over 10 years old. Last time I was out there was one older, very lucid, very intelligent woman, with a beautiful, immaculate home - and not a single alarm was functional. Scary.

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I am all for addressing those issues too!

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Originally Posted by UltraliteAngler

I am all for addressing those issues too!

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Be the change that you seek in the world.

The fire department notes in every public announcement about a fire whether there were working smoke detectors in the building. They are giving them out for free and installing them and still there are probably thousands of houses without them. (owned and rented)